Pest Solutions are excited to announce that we have been named a finalist in two categories at the 2026 Glasgow Business Awards (GBA) for Inspiring Future Talent and for Best Use of Digital Technology.
A double shortlisting has now happened three years running for our Glasgow pest control company, and both nominations reflect our investment in the people who do the work and the technology built to support them.
The award ceremony is fast approaching, being held on Thursday 1 October at the DoubleTree by Hilton Glasgow Central, where businesses from across the city will gather to celebrate this year’s achievements.
What the Glasgow Business Awards recognise
Organised by Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, the Glasgow Business Awards are now strong into their 28th year.
Seventeen categories will be handed out on the night, covering innovation, digital technology, communications, sustainability, community wealth building and workplace culture.
The evening closes with the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Most Outstanding Business title, the grand prix chosen from among that year’s category winners.
Glasgow’s Favourite Business runs alongside the judged categories this year, decided entirely by public vote and sponsored by Glasgow Times.
It’s a special night for Glasgow’s business community, with Nationwide and the category sponsors joining in to celebrate the achievements of our local businesses and the people behind them.
Every year, we are amazed by how hard our incredible team works. To see those efforts recognised for a double-nomination for a third year running is a huge achievement, and we are proud of everyone who has helped make it happen.
A huge congratulations to all the businesses who have become finalists, we look forward to celebrating with you on the night!
Double finalists for the 2026 Glasgow Business Award
Pest Solutions are honoured to be announced as finalists in the 2026 Glasgow Business Awards for the Inspiring Future Talent Award and the Best Use of Digital Technology.
This is our third consecutive year as a finalist for Inspiring Future Talent and our second for Best Use of Digital Technology.
Both submissions reflect our work on training and development, a focus this year that we’re exceptionally proud of.
Inspiring Future Talent celebrates the people: the young technicians we’ve trained and trusted as they develop their expertise early in their careers. Best Use of Digital Technology celebrates PATH, the AI training system built in-house to make training faster and more effective for our team, our customers and our organisation.
Finalists for 2026 Best Use of Digital Technology
Pest Solutions is a finalist for Glasgow Business Awards 2026 in Best Use of Digital Technology, an award sponsored by Space Solutions.
Our nomination recognises PATH, a training system built entirely in-house by the company’s own AI specialists over the past twelve months.
PATH stands for Personalised AI Training Hub, built to fix a problem every training team knows: course material goes stale fast, and rebuilding it is slow and expensive.
PATH keeps courses editable, so we can update individual lessons as information changes. This gives our team access to current training while reducing the time and cost involved in producing new material.
The system draws on the expertise of our own specialists, including our company owner Chris Cagienard, who also serves as President of the British Pest Control Association (BPCA). Their knowledge shapes the courses, with lifelike digital versions of our trainers presenting the videos.
Training costs down, results up
PATH now sits inside the company’s learning platform, its internal knowledge app, and its AI phone system, so a technician in their first week can call on a senior colleague’s expertise without waiting for someone to be free.
Training costs have fallen dramatically since PATH went live, while quality and access to training have both gone up.
The same training investment explains why Pest Solutions technicians are finalists in six of the twelve categories at the 2026 National Pest Awards this year.
That includes two of the three finalists for Pest Controller of the Year and one of three for Young Pest Controller of the Year.
It’s something we’re excited to see our team benefit from, and we’re proud of everyone who has helped in bringing PATH to life.
Finalists for 2026 Inspiring Future Talent
Pest Solutions has also been nominated as a finalist for the 2026 Glasgow Business Awards on Inspiring Future Talent, sponsored by KWC Global.
Pest control has a well-documented age problem across the UK, an estimated 40% of the industry is due to retire within the next decade.
We have always acknowledged there is a real opporuntity to bring more young people into an aging trade, at a time when many are struggling to find work and get their careers started.
Over the past five years, we’ve recruited talented young people early and heavily invested in training them into becoming skilled pest professionals.
We’re glad to be helping more young people find their place in the industry and the workforce, with opportunities to gain qualifications and progress within our team.
Building the next generation on purpose
More than half of the Pest Solutions team is under 35, against an industry where the majority are over 40. Just over half the team is female too, compared with an industry average closer to 5%.
Three of the young people who began their careers with us, Danielle Ellis, Lewis Gordon and Gemma Sutherland, now sit on our senior team, all of them still under 31.
Seeing colleagues who started their careers with us move into senior roles means a great deal.
We’re delighted to have supported their development and to offer more young people the chance to build a career with us.
PATH is a new addition to that work, designed to give newer technicians easier access to our senior specialists’ knowledge as they learn and take on more responsibility.
Chris Cagienard on the team leading the way in the industry
“They are excellent beyond their years, almost certainly better pest professionals than I am today with all my experience,” said Chris Cagienard, owner and Managing Director of Pest Solutions.
“It was my pleasure to motivate and inspire them. But they’re the ones running this business now, and continuing what we started. I’m proud to watch them make our success their own.”
A team worth backing, on results night and every other day
Whatever happens on Thursday evening at the DoubleTree by Hilton, the same team will be back out across Glasgow the next morning, sorting rat problems, bird issues and commercial contracts as usual.
The nominations exist because of the training and technology behind that work.
If you’re dealing with a pest problem and want a company that takes training this seriously, call Pest Solutions on 0800 027 2555 for a free survey.
And if you’re a pest professional wondering what a genuine career path in this industry looks like, get in touch.
We’ll be happy to introduce you to the team so you can ask them yourself how far this path has taken them.
Congratulations to our other finalists!
Pest Solutions has been part of Glasgow’s business community for over 25 years, and we’d love to take the chance to celebrate all the other nominees that make Glasgow the vibrant business hub it’s known for.
We learn a great deal from watching what they’ve achieved, and every one of them deserves recognition for it.
The full list of finalists is as follows.
Best Performing Large Business – Sponsored by Nationwide
- Allied Vehicles Limited
- George Leslie
- Matthew Algie
- Peel Ports Clydeport
- Silverburn
Best Performing Small-Medium Business – Sponsored by Beam Digital and Design
- Minerva Innovation Group
- Perceptive Communicators
- SOLIS Group
- Strachan and Kemp Facilities Services
- Synlata
- The Solutions on Demand Group Ltd
Best Use of Digital Technology – Sponsored by Space Solutions
- Burns Gym
- Candid AI
- Green Fulfilment Ltd
- Pest Solutions
- Select Group
- You Are My Cup Of Tea Ltd
Community Wealth Building – Sponsored by Glasgow City Council
- Glasgow Clyde College
- Govanhill Baths Community Trust
- Homes for Good
- Kinder Handl Community Enterprise CIC
- Mott MacDonald
- University of Glasgow, Glasgow Riverside Innovation District (GRID) Civic Grant Fund
Entrepreneur of the Year – Sponsored by Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie LLP
- Brian Williamson, Synlata
- Cain Fleming, Green Fulfilment
- Emma Ross, Ross Commercial Finance
- Jamie Hall, Arctic Improvements Ltd
- Susan Aktemel, Homes for Good
- Tony Quinn, SilverCloud
Excellence in Communications – Sponsored by The Herald
- Circulus
- Clyde Gateway
- Jamieson Law
- Perceptive Communicators and Cruden Homes
- The Social Hub, Glasgow
- Wheatley
Fair and Healthy Workplace – Sponsored by NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde and Healthy Working Lives
- Freeths Scotland
- Kibble
- Right There
- Silverburn
- SPFL Trust
Family Business of the Year – Sponsored by ATG Entertainment
- Adaptocare Ltd
- Little’s Chauffeur Drive
- Lochlie Construction Group
- Strachan and Kemp Facilities Services
- The Address Glasgow
Green Champion – Sponsored by ScottishPower
- Dear Green
- Hillfoot & Paws
- Hope in Place CIC
- Kinder Handl Community Enterprise CIC
- Klearwayjunk
- With Intent Partners Ltd
Innovation in Business
- Candid AI
- Clyde Gateway
- Forumm
- LotusDX
- Mother Technologies
- The Solutions on Demand Group Ltd
Inspiring Future Talent – Sponsored by KWC Global
- Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre
- Kibble
- Nine Twenty Recruitment
- Pest Solutions
- Resilience Through Creativity with Comedy & Confidence
- Stratum Masonry
Net Zero Achievement – Sponsored by Glasgow City Council
- Boxfish
- Circulus
- King’s and Theatre Royal, Glasgow
- Harley Haddow Limited
- Peel Ports Clydeport
- Student Loans Company
Sustainable Development – Sponsored by Scottish Water
- Austin-Smith:Lord
- Dear Green
- George Leslie
- Glasgow Clyde College
- McLays Foods
- Matthew Algie
Young Business Person of the Year – Sponsored by City of Glasgow College
- Adam Pearce, Minerva Innovation Group
- Javier Gutierrez Abril, Nahualli Group Limited
- Liam Petrie, The LSP Compliance Group
- Pranav Sharman, Allied Vehicles
- Pranav Murali, You Are My Cup Of Tea Ltd
- Reece Devlin, Land Development Network
Glasgow’s Favourite Business – Sponsored by Glasgow Times
- Citizens Theatre
- Paesano Pizza
- Pure Roasters
- Scottish Design Exchange
- Tennent’s
- Trespass
Most Outstanding Business
To be announced at the event.
Lifetime Achievement
Sponsored by Glasgow Chamber of Commerce. To be announced at the event.
Massive congratulations, and we will see all of you on Thursday night!
