THE former Odeon building has seen its fair share of contractors over the past year or so, but none with four legs before.

Golden Labrador Sam has been trained as a 'rothound', and can sniff out the presence of dry rot in the hardest-to-reach areas.

Yesterday, Sam and his handler, Peter Monaghan, were working their way around the Bradford landmark finding out where the fungus could be found.

Mr Monaghan said Sam, a six-year-old rescue dog, was trained to sit every time he smelled 'live' dry rot, and that there had been a lot to find in the Odeon.

He said: "He sat before he went in, basically.

"It's so bad, he's having a job, because there is so much to be found in there he can't narrow it down.

"He has just told me on each level that there is dry rot, basically."

A £1 million repairs scheme, funded by the Homes and Communities Agency, is currently being finished off before the building is taken on by Bradford Live - the organisation hoping to transform the Odeon into a live music venue.

Mr Monaghan, who is based near Kendal in Cumbria, works for Hutton and Rostron. His colleague, surveyor Peter Bannister, said the rotting timber wouldn't pose a structural risk, and that the condition of the concrete and steelwork was a more serious issue.

Mr Monaghan added: "Peter and I both hope they make a good go of it because it would be a shame to see the building knocked down.

"We think it's a nice building and it fits in with this mix of old and new architecture. Good luck to them."