Tauranga's Puriri Hotel has been shrink wrapped in the first large-scale application of the technology to be seen in the city.
Shrink wrapping has been turned on its head in this giant-sized adaptation of something most people associate with keeping food fresh.
Auckland-based ShrinkForce has wrapped the hotel in sheets of resin so work could take place on replacing the roof without builders having to worry about rain.
The job comes less than a month after the first use of the technology in Tauranga - the refurbishment of a home on Marine Parade.
ShrinkForce operations manager Abbey Whaley said shrink wrapping had become the preferred method of containment in most boating marinas around the world and it was now competing with the traditional tarpaulins in keeping the weather out of building upgrades in Auckland.
She said they started in Auckland three years ago and had to fight to get shrink wrapping recognised by the building industry.
Work had taken off to the point where they now had 486 jobs behind them and 68 new projects starting in Auckland.
It was being used from leaky home rebuilds to fully encapsulating super yachts.
The industrial-grade shrink wrapping was completely recyclable and the company had grown to 14 full-time employees, with Mrs Whaley and husband Gary seeking to franchise out the technology in Wellington and Christchurch.
The landlord of the Puriri Hotel, David Gardner, said he was replacing the old "messy" flat roof with its small pitch with a more conventionally angled iron roof in which rain will flush directly into drains around the sides of the building.
He said the old roof appeared to be leaking in a couple of areas so it had been completely redesigned.
Builders would also be doing a couple of smaller jobs while the roof was off.
Builders try shrink wrap for protection
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