Market Intelligence
The latest news from the Stone Industry
15 March 2010 | Market Intelligence
After nine years of development a new ‘green’ engineered stone for surfaces and wall and floor tiles has started coming off a trial production line in Holland.Developed by Shell Research...
18 February 2010 | Market Intelligence
The American-made aluminium honeycomb-backed lightweight stone panels sold in the UK by Stone Company UK Ltd in Newark, Nottinghamshire, have undergone one of their toughest tests yet – being...
23 January 2010 | Market Intelligence
Latest in-cab technology could signal a U-turn in driver behaviour. The knave of Britain’s highways and by-ways will be transformed into the king of the road by the latest technology fitted...
16 December 2009 | Market Intelligence
The NAMM Register of Qualified Memorial Fixers (RQMF) went live on schedule at the beginning of this month (November). The NAMM register is designed to challenge the British Register of...
15 November 2009 | Market Intelligence
Sustainability experts are predicting that water will become one of the most dramatically affected resources as the impact of climate change takes hold. Here, Envirowise Water Specialist Claire...
17 September 2009 | Market Intelligence
Quartz composites have given stone fabricators a much larger share of the interiors market than granite alone could have delivered. But is it now in danger of becoming a commodity? Some want to...
China extracts 28million tonnes of dimensional stone a year and exports two-thirds of it for US$3.6billion.
17 September 2009 | Market Intelligence
The rapid growth of Chinese exports have had a profound effect on the UK stone industry, making stone an economically viable option where once it would not have been considered. NSS reviews the...
16 September 2009 | Market Intelligence
Unfortunately for specialist sub-contractors, in the current economic climate the risk of not getting your retentions is even higher than in the good times.Specialist sub-contractors often complain...
16 September 2009 | Market Intelligence
Feeling guilty about taking cash for a job – or maybe several – that you didn’t declare to HM Revenue & Customs? In the coming months you will be able to come clean as the tax...
14 August 2009 | Market Intelligence
With sterling still relatively weak it is a good time to be selling British stone abroad, as Kirkstone Quarries near Ambleside in Cumbria have discovered.Following a successful bid through a London-...
19 July 2009 | Market Intelligence
The Tile Association (TTA) has joined the campaign Get Britain Building (GBB). It is a coalition of organisations from the construction sector that is calling for a new business environment to help...
19 July 2009 | Market Intelligence
Builders merchants JT Dove have unveiled a dedicated hard landscaping centre at their new £1.6million outlet in Newburn, Newcastle upon Tyne, that is open to view 24 hours a day, 7 days a week...
19 July 2009 | Market Intelligence
Stonescreen is an English company run by Gary O’Connor – an architectural engineer with a background in the stone industry – with a design office in Italy. Stonescreen cladding is a...
19 July 2009 | Market Intelligence
The system of off-site manufacture of lightweight stone panels that has been around longer than most is Stone Panels from America, the stone veneer on aluminium honeycombe panel that became StoneLite...
19 July 2009 | Market Intelligence
Tin hat time Life isn’t easy for kitchen worktop manufacturers. It’s what Danny Curbishley at Russell Stone Fixing calls ‘tin hat time’ to survive the recession and emerge...