Aberdeen City Council announced this week that the £34.6 million renovation of the A-listed Victorian building – first started in 2015 – will be completed with the gallery reopened to the public on November 2.

But one of the more ambitious aspects, a new copper-clad roof with a glass ceiling, now needs to be protected even as people admire the masterpieces below.

The Press and Journal has reported that council officers have bought the Avi-Shock system, following detailed consultation with the council’s pest control and planning teams.

Comprising a metal “track”, birds landing on the equipment will be shocked and gradually learn not to land or nest on the roof.

The firm’s website reads: “The same way electric fences manage cows, pigs, and other livestock, the bird shock track does for pest birds.

“If a bird lands on the track, it is shocked with a harmless amount of electricity that is just enough to scare and deter the bird from landing there.

“They learn instinctively not to return to the treated area.”

Bird charity RSPB Scotland called on the authority to ensure the method was legal.

A spokeswoman said: “Aberdeen City Council needs to be certain that what they are proposing for the Art Gallery roof is legal under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

“I would also hope that they are aware of the declining conservation status of some of our seemingly common urban gull species.”

A school in Aberdeen that was due to be demolished got a stay of execution earlier this month after baby gulls were found nesting on its roof.