Admirable result for Eco Environmental Services Ltd on Pebble Ballast Roof
Eco Environmental Services Ltd have completed works on the Admiral Building in Cardiff for Sir Robert McAlpine
What was the problem?
We at Eco are seeing more and more commercial roofs having stones/pebbles laid over the top of a new roof to act not only as ballast for the roofing surface but to also provide a solar covering to the roofing material to protect and extend its life span. As a consequence of this we are seeing more and more of these buildings suffer with a particular type of bird problem!
Here the seagulls are mimicking their natural behaviour with shells where they pick them up and drop these shells from a height so they can break open the shell and get at the contents. Here though the gulls pick up these stones, some of which can be up to 60-70mm in diameter, and drop them off the building.
Obviously on a large commercial office block the height can be considerable, with a huge risk of damage to property and vehicles below in addition to the more serious issue of a potential fatal injury to anyone hit my these stones.
How did Eco Environmental help to resolve the problem?
We have over the last few years developed a tensioned netting system specifically to resolve this problem and provide a long term solution so the pebbles and stones can stay in place protecting the roof, whilst there is no risk of the gulls picking these up.
The works on this particular site involved not only standard Bird Deterrent Systems but also a horizontal tensioned Birdnet system to seal off the area of the roof covered with these stones. The Birdnet System was fixed around the perimeter of the roof area so that it sits just above the layer of stones, ensuring the gulls cannot get access to pick up these stones, thereby eliminating the risk of damage or injury to other building owners or members of the public below.
Regional Contracts manager Dave Harry commented
"The Tower has its own weather. What would be a light breeze on the ground can often be a howling wind up at the roof level. The team used cleaning cradles, scaffold towers and obviously a full set of Harnesses and Lanyards to secure themselves safely to the structure and complete the works under Sir Robert McAlpine's strict Safety Systems and guidelines. We are delighted with the outcome of the job, it's difficult to see the netting on the pebbles in the picture and that's the effect we were hoping for the client.”
