Stone Federation Great Britain’s Quarry Forum gives its opinion on issues relating to the stone industry from the point of view of companies that extract dimensional stone from opencast and underground quarries and mines.
Visiting the Quarry – make it a priority
Quarries are fascinating places. This may sound a little biased coming from a group of quarry men and women but, thankfully, we’re not the only ones that agree.
Stone Federation’s Quarry Forum members are reporting increasing numbers of architects requesting quarry visits to come and see the material up close and personal.
In one of our previous Rock Face columns we focussed on the importance of viewing range / control panels to ensure you have a full understanding of the natural variations that will occur in the stone.
These panel assessments can be a part of quarry visits, as many quarry operators have large scale range samples on display on site.
As we explained previously, this is vital for effective management of client expectations as stone is a natural material and therefore it will not all be identical. If this is understood, then the unique aesthetic that natural stone provides can be celebrated and built into the design rather than causing tensions between the quarry and the architect.
Another benefit of visiting the quarry (opencast or underground) is that it will enable you to establish the rate of extraction and the quantity of blocks in stock. You will be able to compare this with the stone requirement and programme for your project.
If your requirement for the project is a large percentage of the overall stock or the production from the site, then alterations to the programme could have a big impact on the company’s ability to supply the stone and perhaps a block pre-purchase should be considered.
It is also worth noting the size of the blocks compared with sizes of finished stone required for your project. Often, the largest sizes possible are specified for a project.
Obviously the finished stone sizes cannot be bigger than the quarried block, but if the stone sizes required are larger than the average size of the blocks, then this will impact on the amount of block that the quarry can produce for your project.
If such large blocks are rare, this will also be reflected in the availability and price of the finished masonry.
Again, to ensure there is sufficient block, pre-purchase should be considered.
This can be explained to an architect visiting a quarry who can then understand how the stone appears in its raw state.
There is another benefit of quarry visits that is slightly less technical and more about your peace of mind – you get to form a relationship with your supplier.
Many Quarry Forum members own quarries that have been in their families for generations. They are genuinely passionate about the product that they supply. In an age of click and collect and faceless customer service, the opportunity for you and your client to meet the team that will be quarrying, processing and finishing the material for your project is a rare luxury and a unique selling point for stone.
Stone Federation works with architectural practices, interior designers and specifiers up and down the country, connecting them with the best quarries for their projects. The Federation can help to arrange the quarry visit as well as providing one of its CPD presentations on-site.
These visits provide you and your team with the opportunity to get an in-depth understanding not just of the material but of the processes, practices and people behind the finished product.
If you are an architect or designer and would like the Federation to help organise a quarry visit for you, get the ball rolling by emailing sara@stonefed.org.uk.