Two well-known men within the stone industry, Graham Goldthorpe and Clive Ingledew, have set up a new company called Stone Connection (UK) Ltd near Leeds.
"We intend Stone Connection to become a centre of excellence in stone masonry and hope one day to be a UK market leader in the natural stone field," Graham Goldthorpe told NSS as they moved into their new 500m2 offices and workshop on Park Estate, Sherburn in Elmet.
For the past 24 years Graham Goldthorpe has worked for quarry company Johnsons Wellfield Quarries in Huddersfield, lately as commercial manager, and Clive Ingledew was managing director of J W Smith (Masonry) Ltd in Wheldrake, Yorkshire, where he had worked for 17 years and where Joe Smith has now come out of semi-retirement to run the company himself.
Stone Connection are planning to offer a design, supply and fix service and also a consultancy service. They want to invest in a bridge saw and other masonry equipment and expect to employ three people at their offices and key people as site managers with the workforce sub-contracted.
"The aim of the business is to offer a tailor-made service to contractors and architects, particularly on the design side because the success of a contract is dictated by the design," says Graham.
He explained what had prompted them to set up their own business. "We have known each other for 17 years. We both felt we needed a fresh challenge. We felt there was room in the market for a really good quality design, supply and fix business. We just need to get established and give architects and contractors another option in the field of stone specialists."
He says they both left their previous companies on amicable terms and wishing them well for the future. "We will be dealing with them both in the future, I hope," says Graham.
"I felt I had contributed as much as I could at Johnsons. I\'m proud of what we achieved there but there comes a time when something tells you it\'s time to move on, and I had always been interested in the fixing side."
They started trading on 4 April with contracts for flooring at Astra Zenica with Bullock Construction and at private dwellings in Nottingham and Huddersfield. They expect their main area of operation will be between Birmingham and Newcastle, although they have already had an enquiry from London to which they are responding enthusiastically.