Peter Bennie Ltd, an aggregates and recycling company in Northamptonshire that moved into building stone in 1995 when they took over a customers\' business, are now moving into the conservation market with a new venture called Bennie Historic Conservation.

Setting up the new operation for Bennie is Fred Markland, who has spent the past three years developing the conservation side of the business of E Bowman & Sons in Stamford, Lincolnshire and before that worked at St John\'s College, Cambridge.

Fred says he has made the move because he thought there were better opportunities with Bennie. "I put forward some proposals to Peter Bennie that will give them the opportunity to develop their stone side and me much more opportunity to get involved in the business," he told NSS.

"If you\'re quarrying stone out of the ground it\'s a finite resource, so adding as much value as possible to it is beneficial. There\'s vision there. They want to bring the group forward. And the stones they produce match a lot of historical buildings in the region.""