Bird Deterrent Installation in the heart of London's West End
In early April, a building contractor invited Eco Environmental to provide recommendations and a quotation for bespoke bird deterrent installations to the new Premier Inn Leicester Square, which provides economical accommodation ahead of the Olympic Games, right in the heart of London's West End.
Required: bird deterrents for roosting feral pigeons
The rear elevation of the premises comprised of a large, partially enclosed light well with air handling and other plant equipment at ground level. The sheltered nature of the light well along with the suitably well-positioned pipework and windows sills located close to London's premier fast food establishments, provided an excellent roosting location for feral pigeons.
Rear elevation: bird netting system
Only one bird deterrent method would be able to protect both the plant area and the sills: our black 50mm mesh polyethylene bird netting system Birdnet.
The anti bird net was installed in a horizontal "cap” and vertical "drop” formation. This means that a horizontal section of net, in this case 14m x 12m, would be installed just below the roof level coping. On reaching the extremity of the lightwell opening, the net would deviate vertically downward some 18 metres via a supported stainless steel straining wire. This would be fixed to the top of the of the party wall at ground level, thereby encapsulating the entire area and preventing feral pigeons from entering the area.
As scaffolding gets in the way of bird mesh netting installations of this nature and we were unable to get a cherry picker to the rear elevation, we had to undertake this work via abseil and rope access techniques. Our IRATA trained abseil team did not require any eyebolts installations to facilitate this access as there was plenty of structural elements of the building at roof level which were "Pull tested” and found to be more than safe enough to anchor to.
Front elevation: tensioned bird wire
In such a prime area, our surveyor had to consider the aesthetics of the building along the front elevation. This is why our stainless steel tensioned bird wire system Birdwire was chosen.
The bird wire system provides a deterrent against light roosting by feral Pigeons, while being virtually unnoticeable from the ground.
The builders' gantry and scaffolding to the front elevation was occupying many of the ledges where we would install the bird wire system. To this end, and in consideration of the permits and costs required for cherry pickers in this area, we again chose abseiling as the method of access.
Our bird deterrent works were completed successfully and on time.
As a note of our quality of attendance and installation, the client then decided to take advantage of our access method in order to carry out additional builders rubbish removal and painting snagging work, providing a more cost effective method to complete these tasks compared to re-scaffolding or hoist hire. The works were successfully completed within the required timeframe and all works went without a hitch. We look forward to working with that particularly building contractor again in the future!
If you're looking for a successful bird control solution, please contact Eco Environmental on 01752 669 009.
