diff --git a/org.fortiss.tooling.kernel/trunk/src/org/fortiss/tooling/kernel/utils/EMFResourceUtils.java b/org.fortiss.tooling.kernel/trunk/src/org/fortiss/tooling/kernel/utils/EMFResourceUtils.java
index 851a593c9b7692c10c655addb3895805fb8aad46..9a48cd81ebb1d5aebd58af6998c8399159994894 100644
--- a/org.fortiss.tooling.kernel/trunk/src/org/fortiss/tooling/kernel/utils/EMFResourceUtils.java
+++ b/org.fortiss.tooling.kernel/trunk/src/org/fortiss/tooling/kernel/utils/EMFResourceUtils.java
@@ -25,8 +25,10 @@ import org.eclipse.core.resources.IFile;
 import org.eclipse.emf.common.util.URI;
 import org.eclipse.emf.ecore.EObject;
 import org.eclipse.emf.ecore.resource.Resource;
+import org.eclipse.emf.ecore.resource.ResourceSet;
 import org.eclipse.emf.ecore.resource.impl.ResourceSetImpl;
 import org.eclipse.emf.ecore.xmi.XMLResource;
+import org.fortiss.tooling.kernel.ToolingKernelActivator;
 
 /**
  * Utility methods used for Eclipse resource storage.
@@ -58,4 +60,19 @@ public final class EMFResourceUtils {
 		options.put(Resource.OPTION_ZIP, false);
 		return options;
 	}
+
+	/** Loads the root EObject from the given URI. */
+	public static EObject loadModelFromFile(URI resourceURI) {
+		try {
+			ResourceSet rset = new ResourceSetImpl();
+			Resource r;
+			r = rset.createResource(resourceURI);
+			r.load(EMFResourceUtils.buildOptionsMap());
+			return r.getContents().get(0);
+		} catch (IOException ex) {
+			LoggingUtils.error(ToolingKernelActivator.getDefault(),
+					"Failed to load model from " + resourceURI.toString());
+		}
+		return null;
+	}
 }