diff --git a/DetectorDescription/GeoModel/GeoModelStandalone/GeoExporter/src/GeoExporter.cxx b/DetectorDescription/GeoModel/GeoModelStandalone/GeoExporter/src/GeoExporter.cxx
index bda62ef266ed473ff147fc7fcd0dc2f47b8acc71..bcc6680591a5f862bef2779ef9a79a6237d5a385 100755
--- a/DetectorDescription/GeoModel/GeoModelStandalone/GeoExporter/src/GeoExporter.cxx
+++ b/DetectorDescription/GeoModel/GeoModelStandalone/GeoExporter/src/GeoExporter.cxx
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ if ( !(user_detmanagerslist.empty()) ) {
                 PVConstLink treetop(manager->getTreeTop(i));
 
                 // get treetop's volume
-                const GeoVPhysVol* vol = &(*treetop);
+                const GeoVPhysVol* vol = treetop;
                 
                 // get volume's transform
                 // NOTE: we use getDefX() to get the transform without any alignment