The situation
The entrance to an underground car park in Berlin, a good six metres wide, three to four metres of working height, and a popular nesting spot. Under the ceiling sit a refrigeration unit with three fans, a compressor, a switch box and pipework from 25 to 200 mm. The pigeon damage was plain to see, and the plant still had to stay accessible at all times.
Solution
A two-net design across two ceiling bays, around 35 m², plus stainless steel spikes on all the pipework. The walls carry external wall insulation (EWI) with 150 mm stone wool: anchoring was with resin anchors through the insulation into the load-bearing concrete, fittings in A4 stainless steel, with spacer sleeves. On the steelwork we used beam clamps, with no drilling at all.
How it was done
Net: black PE, 50 mm mesh size, stainless steel edge cable all round. Worked into it are a tool-free maintenance hatch, a swinging net section at the railing gate and a two-metre zip opening for the fans.
Result
Handed over with no defects. The plant is protected and stays serviceable without taking the net down. Twenty linear metres of spikes were quoted; we fitted 47, at our own cost. A few weeks later the follow-up order came in: another 270 m² of netting for the bin store and entrance of the same property.
