Manchester\'s prestigious Magistrates Court has opened to the public featuring Locarbriggs Red sandstone from Stancliffe Stone. The 15,500m2 scheme balances the need for a secure, flexible and efficient courthouse with a welcoming and warm atmosphere.

Combined with contrasting glass and steel, the Locharbriggs Red Sandstone is used to clad the exterior walling of the court building to create a striking contemporary appearance. The stone is also used to wrap around the lobby, creating a complementary link between the building\'s reception area and the exterior.

Locharbriggs was chosen as a good match to the indigenous Cheshire red sandstone traditionally found on buildings in the Manchester area.

Stancliffe also provided a special scheduling and logistics service to ensure the construction process was as efficient as possible. Working in close partnership with specialist contractors J W Smith, Stancliffe ensured the right stone was delivered on site at the right time in the right order by calculating the dimensions of each individual stone and entering the data into a detailed schedule and delivery programme.

This service saved J W Smith valuable man-hours and removed much of the waste and damage that occurs when building products have to be stored on site.

Everyone loves stone

Stancliffe have received the results of a survey they commissioned into people\'s attitudes towards stone. They show that 96% of specifiers would like to see natural stone more widely used across the built environment.

The research polled more than 100 housebuilders, masonry contractors, architects and merchants to guage their perception of stone as a material and its use in the built environment.

In an endorsement of stone\'s versatility, 52% of those polled believed stone was suitable for any type of construction project, although a significant proportion (31%) still thought it was only suitable for restoration and heritage projects.

Commenting on the results Stancliffe\'s general manager, Mike Jones, said: "There\'s no doubt that the market for natural stone is growing."

He said Stancliffe\'s stone was being used across the country to clad a variety of new buildings ranging from high profile commercial developments and civic buildings to houses. "The variety of applications demonstrates the modern, innovative ways in which the qualities of natural stone are being exploited."

On the less positive side, the survey also showed that 36% of respondents thought stone was expensive, althoug 17% - mostly contractors who actually use it on site - thought it was a versatile, high quality material.

Mike Jones said: "The reality of working with natural stone is that it\'s an extremely flexible material which lends itself to a variety of different applications. It also offers a very competitive whole life costing because of its innate durability and the way in which it will retain its aesthetic value despite weathering over many years."