PPC123 | MEET THE MEMBER

From drainage inspections and remote monitoring to drones and bird control, Concept Pest Control Operations Manager Neill Gibson is helping protect one of Belfast’s busiest transport hubs from pests.

PPC Editor Kat Shaw and BPCA’s Technical Manager, Niall Gallagher, took a detour away from the Belfast Forum to meet with Neill and chat about the city’s new train station, Concept Group and his love of a good challenge.

“When Belfast’s new Grand Central Station opened, everyone knew the pest risks would be significant from day one.”The station, in the new Weavers Cross development of Belfast, is a busy hub. Thousands of people move through the site every day. It’s surrounded by ageing drains, heavy traffic and dense city infrastructure. 

Add food outlets, sheltered spaces and Belfast’s well-known pigeon and rat populations, and it quickly becomes clear why pest management needed to be part of the plan from the start.

For Neill Gibson, the challenge was exactly the sort of problem-solving work that first drew him into the industry 13 years ago.

“A year open at the station and it’s already one of the biggest sites we’ve got. The old Europa Bus Centre was terrible for pigeons, so when this opened everybody wanted to get off to a good start with pest control” Neill explained.

Rat pressure in the city

Rodent pressure in Belfast has become a growing concern in recent years, particularly around ageing drainage systems and areas prone to flooding.

“Drains are bad around here, and heavy rain brings rats up. Shaftesbury Square was rat central. Fatbergs were being pulled out all over the place and the city was rampant with them for a while” Neill said.

He believes reduced sewer baiting contributed to the problem. 

“The council stopped baiting sewers about a year ago because of the cost.There’s a famous story about them all having dinner in a municipal building, heavy rain came down, and rats started appearing while they were eating. They’re baiting again now.” 

A mix of old and new technologies

Grand Central Station has become a showcase site for combining traditional methods with modern pest management technology.

“This is one of our biggest remote monitoring sites,” Neill said.

“The outer protection is remote monitoring, while the inside still uses more standard bait stations. We still visit regularly, but the technology helps us map activity much more effectively. That investment in technology now includes drone capability."

“We’ve opted for drones and I’m trained on them now. We still do hawking as well, but birds can be unpredictable if they fancy a day off” Neill explained.

The station team also moved away from traditional bird spikes in favour of bird deterrent gel systems. The old station had spikes everywhere, so we wanted something less unsightly."

“The gel pots have been excellent for pigeons and starlings. We’re getting a cherry picker in next week to install them throughout the inside of the station as well. It’s going to be a big job! Even with the best systems in place, human behaviour still creates challenges.

“The security guards start saying, ‘We like the pigeons’. Then eventually somebody starts feeding them. It’s an issue wherever you go, and it’s done with good intentions but has negative consequences.”

A small industry with strong relationships

Northern Ireland’s pest management community remains surprisingly close-knit.

“Northern Ireland is so small that everybody tends to know each other, I’ll get calls from people saying, ‘You’re working next door, have you had any issues?’” Neill said.

That culture of collaboration also extends into how Concept develops technicians internally.

“When we train new pest controllers, we tell them it’s never an insult if somebody else checks your site,” he explained.

“You can become blind to a problem sometimes and a fresh set of eyes can completely change your thinking.”

That practical, team-first mindset has become central to how Neill manages the business’s seven full-time pest professionals.

“We work like a family and fight like a family sometimes,” he joked.

“But a good sense of humour is important in this job. If you don’t have one, you probably won’t last very long.”

Rodent pressure in Belfast has become a growing concern in recent years, particularly around ageing drainage systems and areas prone to flooding.

Leading from the front

Although now an Operations Manager, Neill still prefers being on-site whenever possible.

“There’s only so much you can do over the phone. That hands-on approach has helped earn trust within the team" he said.

“I won’t ask anybody to do something I wouldn’t do myself,” he explained. “I think that comes from my background. I didn’t come through university or management schemes. I came through blue-collar work and I’ve done all the difficult jobs myself over the years.

“If somebody’s new, I want them to see me turning up and helping with the dirty work too. Whether that’s drainage work or dealing with difficult access sites.”

Some of those sites include massive construction cranes, where pigeon activity around operating systems can create health and safety concerns for engineers.

“Everybody wants the crane jobs, we draw straws for it,” he laughed. “You’re right up at the top dealing with pigeons nesting around the engine units and operating sections. There’s a lot of dust and fouling in very confined spaces.”

From farm life to pest management

Neill’s route into pest management was driven by the 2007 financial crash and the recession that followed.

After leaving school, he worked in joinery and construction, then loading salt onto boats around Belfast docks. He was laid off and moved into a role doing oven cleaning.

“It was awful work,” he admitted. “I was sitting in the van one day looking through Gumtree and saw Concept were hiring.” Half an hour after his interview, he was offered the job.

“I never set out to become a pest controller, but once I got into it, it just made sense.” Growing up outdoors also helped shape his interest in wildlife management and pest control. “I grew up on my grandfather’s farm in Dromore, County Down,” he said.

“I wasn’t a PlayStation kid. I was outside all the time, fishing, chasing pigeons or out with the dog. Being able to tell the difference between fox runs, badger runs and other signs gives you a good grounding.”

Neill now has wildlife qualifications and deer stalking licences, to bolster his experiences on the farm. “Being able to understand wildlife behaviour definitely helped when I moved into pest control.”

Problem solving keeps people in the industry

Ask Neill what his favourite pest species is, though, and he doesn’t hesitate.

“It’s not about the species,” he said. “It’s the problem solving. The more complex the issue, the better. It’s such a varied job, that’s what keeps it interesting. The more difficult the problem, the more I enjoy it.

“Spending days trying to figure out what’s actually going on at a site, that’s the part I love.”

And at home, it sounds like the next generation may already be following in his footsteps. “My little boy loves hearing about pigeons and wildlife,” Neill laughed. “He keeps saying he wants to become a pest controller.”