Project news

The last piece of an unconventional 10-panel roof has been fitted on Marisco Vineyard's new $40 million winery that sits amid Brent Marris' 268 hectares of vineyard in the Waihopai Valley, Marlborough, between the Waihopai River and the Delta Hills.

It will process 6000 tonnes of fruit at full capacity and its completion is expected by the end of 2011. The winery will be operational for this year's vintage though. All the tanks are under cover and the refrigeration plant underground.

The panels, 10m by 44m section, comprised of structural steel, insulated ceiling panels and roof cladding, and weighed 20 tonnes. Each had been assembled on the ground, which was unconventional and required innovative structural detail.

Normally the roof would be assembled in the air and require a lot of tradesmen and scaffolding, which would halt ground work. Whilst extremely challenging, the Structex designed installation at Marisco Vineyard had allowed those staff to continue work on the ground which had carved months off the project.