The housing market may be looking a little shakey but MgLW, one of London\'s top stone wholesalers, are gearing up for another busy year by extending their warehouse to hold more stock and an even greater variety of stone.

Their existing London warehouse in SW8 is augmented by a storage yard in Southend where the stone imported by MgLW is kept before going to London. Their current 7,000m2 will be extended by a further 750m2 by expanding MgLW into a warehouse adjacent to their existing premises in London.

The London warehouse is managed by Manuel Almeida, supported by Marcello Carvalho, and owned by Joao Moutinho who told NSS that the market had continued to grow this year and that there was a feeling of confidence for next year.

Joao says MgLW are continuing to search for new products to offer the market and that his brother Rogerio has recently been in China exploring opportunities there.

MgLW already buy from India but have found it harder to guarantee high quality stone from China. "For our standards you have to spend time looking. The Chinese aren\'t always up to the standards we need here," says Joao.

He says the market continues to want stone at short notice but is maturing in as much as the stone companies that form MgLW\'s customers are much more likely these days to bring their customers in and let them select their own slabs. That way clients do not complain that their worktop is not the same as the sample they were given.

Joao also says the market has settled down. When he introduced Compac quartz materials everyone wanted it, but now it has found its place in the market alongside the natural stones they sell and demand for all the products is strong.

And that includes some English stone, because MgLW are agents in London for Albion Stone\'s Portland limestone flooring.

Now Joao is waiting for the next new fashion. "Something will come," he says. "I don\'t know what\'s going to be next, but when something else comes up we will be there ready for it."