diff --git a/dune/gfe/averageinterface.hh b/dune/gfe/averageinterface.hh
index 9e48db432d309998f5539023f2f260529bc9404a..41e9f6370dc6bc6f41f37771aee04d18a221f163 100644
--- a/dune/gfe/averageinterface.hh
+++ b/dune/gfe/averageinterface.hh
@@ -816,7 +816,7 @@ void computeAverageInterface(const BoundaryPatchBase<GridView>& interface,
  */
 template <class GridView>
 void setRotation(const BoundaryPatchBase<GridView>& dirichletBoundary,
-                 Dune::BlockVector<Dune::FieldVector<double,GridView::dimension> > deformation,
+                 Dune::BlockVector<Dune::FieldVector<double,GridView::dimension> >& deformation,
                  const RigidBodyMotion<3>& relativeMovement)
 {
     const typename GridView::IndexSet& indexSet = dirichletBoundary.gridView().indexSet();