HISTORIC HUT IN ANTARCTICA PRESERVED
A specialist team from the Antarctic Heritage Trust spent three months in temperatures as low as minus 40°C renovating the famous landmark, which was built in 1957. Exterior work included building a new aluminum roof coated with a special batch of the company’s Polydure® coil over the existing leaky one.
Originally constructed for the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, the hut houses more than 500 painstakingly conserved artifacts.
The new aluminum roof was painted by Pacific Coil Coaters in New Zealand and installed by specialist standing seam roofer, Mike Burgess, on top of the existing roof, preserving the original building for future restoration.
Money for the million-dollar project was raised in New Zealand and included a government contribution of $180,000.
Hillary’s hut forms part of Scott Base, New Zealand’s only Antarctic research station. It joins several other buildings on the frozen continent to have been coated by AkzoNobel, including the British Antarctic Survey’s Halley VI research station and explorer Robert Swan’s e-Base at Bellingshausen.
