Toitū Otago Settlers Museum re-roof

We’ve got quite a history with the Historic Place Category 2 listed Otago Settlers Museum, part of which is housed in the Art Deco former New Zealand Rail Road Transport Building which WH Naylor built in 1939.

Over 80 years later, we returned to replace the older parts of the roof and re-fall the membrane gutters, protecting the museum with a series of massive tents supported by an intricate web of scaffolding as we worked stage-by stage. Unfortunately we discovered asbestos slates in the roof cavity and the scope changed to removing the roof right back to the original rafters, completing a full environmental clean and installing a new roofing system of ply, membrane guttering and Colorsteel. We also installed powder-coated Moddex handrail system to ensure that future maintenance could be completed safely.

We managed to keep the museum open throughout, carefully plying over glass skylights eight metres above the museum floor to eliminate the risk of falls from height, dropped objects and damage to the skylights.

While largely hidden from the ground, the 2,000m² of brand new, bright red roof is entirely in keeping with the heritage building and is quite a landmark from above!