In 130metres you can stroll through 3,000million years of the UK’s geological history in an impressive new display opened at the British Geological Survey’s headquarters in Nottingham this month (June).

If you want to study the geology of the British Isles from the Precambrian of 3,000million years ago to the present Quaternary, a new resource at the British Geological Survey (BGS) in Keyworth, Nottingham, will provide an excellent introduction without you having to travel to the four nations of the United Kingdom.

The latest phase of a major redevelopment of the BGS headquarters site has seen the replacement of unattractive 1960s educational buildings with modern, efficient, purpose-built offices and high quality hard landscaping using the natural stones of the British Isles.

There cannot be a more appropriate setting for the stone than the Geological Survey, the partly publicly funded body which advises the British government on all aspects of geoscience, as well as providing impartial advice on geological matters to the public, academics and industry.

Yet the use of natural stone was by no means assured at one stage and the original plans in the design & build contract won by Kier Construction incorporated 70% concrete paving.

Only the support of the stone industry in the UK and the indomitable persistence of specialist stone suppliers CED, working in conjunction with Steve Parry, a mineralogist, petrologist and building stone expert at the BGS, ensured natural stone was used for the whole project.

BGS and CED shared the task of sourcing the feature rocks that lie along the Geological Walk, while CED has sourced and delivered the paving. Although most of the paving is commercially available, some was sawn from blocks obtained specifically for this project – which might just see some of these ‘bespoke’ stone types becoming commercially available.

The first of two geologically landscaped areas leads up to the new reception of the BGS. This opened last year (see NSS October issue) while work on the second area, the Geological Walk itself, was continuing. The whole project was officially opened on 17 May by Sir John Beddington, the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor, in front of more than 100 invited guests. A commercial opening for architects, engineers, consultants and stone suppliers takes place on 21 June. The BGS geological landscaping is not only intended to showcase the British stone industry, but also inspire future hard landscaping projects.

Viewings of the Geological Walk by architects and designers are particularly welcome (during normal working hours and by prior appointment) and CED would be delighted to accompany those who wish to see the path and discuss the use of indigenous stones for hard landscaping. To arrange a visit, call CED’s depot at Langley Mill, which is located only a short distance from the BGS, on 01773 769916.

The oldest stone on display is a 15tonne block of Lewisian Gneiss at the front of the site, near the Main Reception. The BGS wanted a boulder of an alternative rock type at the start of the Geological Walk, so it begins with a∏ monolith of meta-anorthosite that was a residual armourstone originating from the island of South Harris.

The Precambrian meta-anorthosite, which is surrounded by other Precambrian stone types from Scotland, is succeeded (in chronological order) by stone paving from across the UK that is representative of the 11 principal sub-divisions, or periods, of what geologists refer to as the Phanerozoic Eon. Igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rock types are all included.

The aforementioned meta-anorthosite is one of 15 feature boulders located along the new path (there are five more close to the Reception entrance). The children’s favourite is likely to be a block of Upper Jurassic Portland limestone with its large and prominent fossil ammonite (pictured left). There is also a fossilised tree from the Cretaceous that came from the Isle of Portland.

Each geological period is bounded by stainless steel divider strips and name plates are set into the central ‘timeline spine’ of Carboniferous flagstone that stretches the full 130metre length of the Geological Walk.

There are also stainless steel numbers set into the ‘spine’. They cross-reference with a leaflet, enabling the easy identification of the different stone types included.

One of the new buildings flanking the Geological Walk is called the James Hutton Building, named after the 18th century geologist who is regarded by many in the science as the founder of modern geology.

By studying the rocks at Siccar Point on the Berwickshire coast Hutton realised that rocks were created and recreated in a series of cyclic processes. At Siccar Point, near-vertical Silurian wacke sandstones are overlain with angular unconformity by layers of red sandstone dating to the Upper Devonian and Lower Carboniferous. A representation of Siccar Point has been engineered using Morrington wacke and Balaldie sandstones with a coping of Red Wilderness (another sandstone). This imposing feature sits to the right of the James Hutton Building entrance (pictured right).

In front of the building are two millstones fashioned from Carboniferous Millstone Grit sandstone, resting on Pennant sandstone paving that is surrounded by Baycliffe limestone paving.

Practical considerations, such as the location of utilities, imposed some restrictions on the layout of the Geological Walk and some particularly pernickety geologists might also note that the length of each section of the path is not in proportion to the duration of the period. But, as Steve Parry says, if it were, more than 110metres of the path would be Precambrian.

Due credit has to go to Techniblock Ltd of Derby, which was subcontracted by Kier to lay the stone. The company’s careful work has ensured the installation does the project vision justice.

Michael Heap, CED’s Managing Director, is delighted with the result. “The path has turned out as well as I could possibly have hoped when I suggested that it should be laid with stone alone. Every producer I approached contributed to facilitate the creation of this wonderful permanent display of British stone paving – a great national resource for the paving and landscape industries. The whole design is a delight. The path provides necessary access to the buildings alongside, it is geologically useful and informative, it is a pleasant place to sit and relax or even have a meeting and a really lovely space in every way.”