Administrators at the Anglican Cathedral are bringing in an expert from the United Kingdom to look at roof problems at the landmark building in Hamilton city centre.

The Cathedral raised $150,000 in the `Roofle' prize draw in December to repair the cathedral, which is suffering from water damage.

Architects inspected the roof last month and found five copper plates were coming loose on the south side.

Cathedral Canon Keith Wassall has been in touch with colleagues at the world-famous York Minster and Lichfield Cathedral who have recommended the names of copper roof experts in Britain.

He said the Cathedral's architects, Cooper and Gardner, had said they were not aware of anyone locally who is qualified to do the work so they will have to look elsewhere.

Cooper and Gardner are now in the process of contacting one of the British firms to fly out an expert to assess the problem.

During the inspection, the architects found the gutters and downspouts in several areas of the south side roof were "jam packed'' with rubbish.

They were cleaned out and will have to be drenched twice a year to ensure there is no build up of water which will seep into the walls.

Canon Wassall told The Royal Gazette : "We had a man working on the gutters and downspouts and in several areas on the south side they were jam packed with rubbish, plastic bags, paper plates, paper cups, and palm leaves.

"At both levels they were cleared and it looks like we will have to do that twice a year initially.

"On the upper roof we've found at least five panels are loose and some of the screws that fix the panels have come out.

"We've got to get some experts in copper roofs and I've been given some names of reliable companies from friends I know at York Minster and Lichfield Cathedral and the architects have got to arrange for them to come out.'' He said it was "impossible to say'' how much the final repair bill would be because the experts have not completed their assessment.

"It may be a simple job or it might be that we need to bring more experts in to do the work.''