With the investment of a new cool store at Fonterra’s Whareroa site, just south of Hawera, came the challenge of investing in new ideas to ensure ongoing cost reductions and functionality on a facility that would serve the dairy giant for years to come.

Fonterra are continually concerned with safety on their roofs and, as a food-manufacturing site, cleaning of the roof areas is a requirement. Roof edge protection was needed for the construction of the facility, so it made sense to factor in a permanent roof-edge safety system, rather than temporary scaffolding.

Monkeytoe worked carefully with Fonterra and the building contractors to ensure that the handrail system was not only compliant, but also looked good. As the project was already in the construction phase when we were invited, we needed to move quickly with the design to ensure that the handrails were in place when needed. Despite the time pressure on the Monkeytoe team, the result was a resounding success – not only financially (coming in at only 25% above scaffolding costs) but also aesthetically: the finished system looks superb!

The handrails were accompanied by a full-access walkway, stairs, ladders, and pipe and cable tray mountings, which used the renowned MKT fixings, designed specially for the non-penetrating D630 roofing system.