The Insider

Stone Federation Great Britain’s Interiors & Surface Materials Focus Group talks about the interiors market.

Stone Federation Great Britain’s Interiors & Surface Materials Focus Group is dedicated to the interiors side of the natural stone industry and promoting the use of Federation members for interior work.

Collaborative Success

The Interiors & Surface Materials Focus Group is the part of Stone Federation dedicated to promoting and resourcing members working in the interiors sector of the natural stone industry.

The group meets three times a year and the agenda can be as wide ranging as CPDs and trade shows through to reviews of British Standards and tackling industry misconceptions.

The latest meeting was a showcase for one of the core strengths of the Interiors & Surface Materials Focus Group: collaboration.

Within the group we have suppliers of imported stones, British quarry operators, sealant manufactures, fixing solution firms and design consultants, to name but a few. Over the past 12 months we’ve welcomed representatives from the following member firms to our meetings:

Amarestone, Ardex, Arup, BRE, Burlington Stone, EDM London, GML, Harrison Goldman, Lithofin, Marmi, New Image Stone, Norcros Adhesives, RSK, Stonell, Strata Stones, Szerelmey, The Marble & Granite Centre, The Stone Consultants, Tremco Illbruck and Vetter UK.

This unique blend enables the group to discuss issues from a panoramic perspective, considering the impacts of decisions made on all parts of the industry.

This was best displayed in the formation of an exciting new Interiors CPD for architects the Group has been developing.

The content has had the input of industry leaders in all areas of the interiors sector, resulting in a comprehensive presentation that provides expertise for each stage of an interiors project.

This collaborative approach is seen throughout the interiors sector of the membership, with stone supplier members recommending sealants provided by members or connecting clients with installation experts in the Group’s membership.

At the heart of this approach is trust – an invaluable commodity. 

We see a consistent trend of members finding other member companies to provide both a product and a service that they trust, and building a longstanding working relationship.

The cumulative effect of this dynamic is peace of mind for the client – peace of mind that at each stage of their project is an industry leader that has a vested interest in the finished result delivering excellence.

Stone Federation always recommends the use of one of its member firms at each stage of a project for this very reason.

The CPD being prepared by the  Interiors & Surface Materials Focus Group is in its final stages of review and will be available for delivery to the interior design and architectural sectors in the near future.

All members of Stone Federation working in the interiors sector are welcome to join the Interiors & Surface Materials Focus Group, as the greater the span of companies inputting, the more representative the outcome will be.