Graeme Haddon, previously the managing director of the Scottish stone company Watson Stonecraft that went into receivership with the loss of more than 100 jobs this year (see NSS July issue), is setting up a new stone division for hard landscapers Land Engineering.

The new division is called Stone Engineering. The team with Graeme in the new enterprise includes former Watson people Ian Wilkinson, who will run the commercial side; Tony Bell, contracts manager; Maryon Miller, design manager; and David Turner, site manager. Alex Stark, who worked for Watson Stonecraft nearly all his working life, will also be joining them as a consultant.

They are planning to move into new offices shortly, although as we went to press had yet to sign all the papers so could not give contact details. They expect to be launching in February.

Graeme Haddon, who joined Land Engineering in July, says Stone Engineering will instantly give Land Engineering a new division with £3.5million worth of work, as they have won some of the contracts that Watson had expected to win.

And the work is not all in Scotland. It will also take them into England, where, says Graeme, they might eventually open a separate office. However, he adds: “We want to maintain a very strong presence in Central Scotland.”

Land Engineering and Watson Stonecraft already shared a lot of clients and had worked together on various projects where Land Engineering carried out the hard landscaping part of the project and Watson the stonework on the buildings.

After receivers were appointed at Watsons, Tradstocks quickly snapped up all the machinery, which included six Terzago saws, a BM, a Wells Wellcut and an ASM profiler. Graeme says he will not be going back into sawing stone but will stick to contracting.