Churchfield Stone supply only British stones, most from their own and other quarries around their factory near Oundle, Peterborough. It means their walling, flooring and other products have an exceptionally low carbon footprint – which is starting to make a difference
Vic Abbott left school at 15 to start an apprenticeship as a stonemason. He was working English limestones. Nearly 40 years on he still believes in English stones for English homes. And with environmental concerns about CO2 emissions associated with transporting stone growing, his customers tend to agree with him.
Vic is now Director of Operations of Churchfield Stone at Churchfield Quarry in rural Lyveden, where Cambridgeshire meets Northamptonshire.
The quarry is on Churchfield Farm. The stone has been produced from the farm before and the new quarry area is near to the previous workings.
Before taking over the quarry, Churchfield Stone called in Professor Geoffrey Walton to survey it and obtain planning consent. Professor Walton was excited by the stone, which is Blisworth Jurassic great oolitic limestone that is not generally available.
There will be a chance to see the stone on Professor Walton’s stand at the Natural Stone Show in ExCeL London 15-17 March (see www.stoneshow.co.uk) and Professor Walton will also be talking about the analysis of the stone and development of the quarry as part of the seminar programme run in conjunction with the exhibition.
Blisworth stone has been used in the construction of some important buildings across a fairly extensive part of that area of England, which means there is a market in conservation and repair, maintenance and improvement, as well as from developers of appropriate new build in sensitive areas. It will be of interest to English Heritage and the National Trust.
A National Trust building at Lyveden, known as Lyveden New Bield (pictured on the right of this page) is a particular testament to the quality of Blisworth stone. Built in the shape of a cross with four arms of equal length, the house was started by Sir Thomas Tresham to symbolise his Catholic faith, but was left unfinished after he was executed for his part in the Guy Fawkes Gunpowder Plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. The house, in spite of never having been roofed or glazed, remains in remarkably good condition after more than 400 years.
The Churchfield quarry does not lend itself to the production of large blocks of stone but, with little overburden, the stone is easily lifted out using an excavator to be produced as naturally coursed rubble walling, joining the other stones that Churchfield also produce as walling.
Churchfield Stone was set up nearly two years ago after Vic Abbott had been working on a house for businessman Paul Robinson, who has diverse interests ranging from property development and ground works to waste management. Vic mentioned he was looking for new premises and Paul Robinson and his business partner Melvyn Skelton saw an opportunity, especially as they already knew about the stone on Churchfield Farm. The name of Churchfield was adopted by the stone company because it seemed to convey all the right messages.
After six months setting up the business, Vic and Jean Smith, head of sales and marketing, invited all the local builders merchants in and told them about the stone walling being produced. Always on the look-out for profitable new ranges, many of the merchants saw the potential of stone walling and are now selling it.
Churchfield fully support sales and distribution through the builders merchant to the extent of becoming involved in giving full technical support and design advise whenever it is required. Deliveries of the materials are made direct to site so the merchant does not need to hold stocks. Churchfield will also fix within a fairly large area that extends into London. They are happy for it to be that way. “We produce the schedule and the price,” says Vic. “The builders merchants don’t have to be involved in any of the detailing, so they can’t get it wrong.”
Churchfield have a similar philosophy towards selling the flooring they produce on their tile line.
They make tiles in standard sizes from seven different English stones. The stones include limestone from Creeton and ironstone from Great Tew, both supplied by the Johnston Quarry Group. Churchfield have exclusivity on the block from Great Ponton near Grantham and buy Cotswold limestone from Oathill. The standard tiles are supplied in honed or polished finishes and are sold only through 15 top-of-the-range specialist outlets, such as Hyperion Tiles in Ascot and Marlow, who Vic has supplied with English limestone flooring for the past 13 years.
Jean says: “Everyone has the same imported stones, but at the top end they want something a little different and the English range provides that level of exclusivity.”
Vic says in all the time he has been supplying Hyperion the price of the tiles has not increased, a feat he attributes both to judicious buying of block and to efficient production through minimising handling and reducing waste in the factory, where just seven people are employed. Being able to set up in a huge, empty farm building helped.
The key to efficient production is knowing stone, says Vic. “You need to know what you’re looking at and what yield you are going to get from a block.”
When blocks of stone arrive at Churchfield Stone’s factory from the local quarries supplying them, they are sawn on one of two primary saws and then go on to the tile line, the walling line or the banker if bespoke pieces are being produced by the masons, as they often are.
Even the tiles are often produced to bespoke sizes because although Churchfield Stone produce standard products to keep the price down, price is often not the deciding factor for people discerning enough to have chosen English stone.
A new line just being introduced by Churchfield is standard fireplaces. Vic has previously supplied bespoke fireplaces, but has now produced a range of five designs that, again, Churchfield will sell through builders merchants and fireplace specialists.
They are shaped on a robot arm that is, like the rest of the machinery in the Churchfield factory, second hand and adapted specifically for their needs. Vic’s son, Matthew, who works with Vic at Churchfield Stone, programmed the robot.
Vic: “If you can evaluate exactly what you need you won’t find a machine to do it, so you have to adapt it. You might as well adapt something that is cheaper to buy. You don’t need to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds.”
The price of the standard fire surrounds to the public will be competitive at around £750. Churchfield also expect the range to start opening export markets for them into the USA and Scandinavia.
That could present new opportunities at a time when there are not many in the UK. Vic is predicting that the market, especially for housing, will remain subdued next year, although he believes the top end will continue to offer opportunities.