The Bird Netting Challenge:

We were contacted by Brown’s Hairdressing Group in Market Harborough because they had a problem with nuisance pigeons. Brown’s care deeply about their customers and staff and are very successful. They have a great reputation and many salons across the country. The site in question was the Stamford salon. The management wished to give the staff somewhere to sit in good weather. Although the yard is shared, Brown’s were so intent on improving things that they wanted to invest even though the yard is shared. Pigeon proofing for local businesses is one of the most rewarding things to do. The rear of the store have a very small service yard which had fallen into disrepair due to several reasons. There had been a persistent pigeon problem. Various attempts had been made to solve the nuisance pigeons. The rear wall of the salon had roosting pigeons which were:

• Squeezing past pigeon netting ripped down by builders
• Nesting on the floor in pigeon guano causing slip hazards
• Causing the yard to be unusable
• Blocking drains with guano
• Causing mess by roosting on the back wall of the building.

Communication:

During a survey, we politely knocked on the doors of Quadrant Building Control and North Shoes to let them know we’d be working at the rear of their properties. Quadrant were particularly interested in improving things.  Nick Ellson of Quadrant and Harry Brown of Brown’s both voiced the opinion that getting rid of pigeons from the entire yard was long overdue. Both decided that the bigger picture was more important. They made a commitment to improve things. We worked closely with all companies in order to negotiate access and a joint venture was agreed. Pest Control and Bird Control are so much easier when people agree and collaborate. Pigeon proofing for local businesses is often a joint venture At this point we had to reassess the stop of the work. The great thing was that, although the work was tripled, the clients paid half as much as they would have done for individual work on their building. We even agreed to install gutter comb after cleaning out the gutters.

A common sense plan:

In order to get rid of pigeons, we wanted to do it humanely. The obvious choice was to install a large pigeon netting at height to cover the entire service yard. It was very difficult to access but we felt that the only really solutions was to make it so that staff and customers would never even notice the pigeon. We could use access platforms so it had to be done from ladders. A tough job but when you’re doing pigeon proofing for local businesses, you’ve got to make it work for them.

Installation:

The pigeon proofing for these local businesses took 2 days including all the tidying, jet-washing down afterwards and installing some spikes round a particularly tricky old chimney. The skeleton installation for the net was most demanding as access was almost impossible. We actually had to remove part of a disused chimney in order to get the net across to the installed skeleton (net frame). Its great when it starts to tighten and the pigeon fly away. Thats the best thing about pigeon proofing and getting rid of pigeons this way…none of them have to get hurt. It was a tough job including working at height, risk assessments, clean up and extraction from the site – but what great results. 

Results:

We popped back to see the installation just to make sure that none of the pigeons were getting in. It’s become a beautifully pigeon-free area that is a real sun trap. Staff can now sit out there with out worrying about the smell, the unsightly mess and contracting disease. The customers are happy and we’re proud.