A new British and European standard will soon start appearing on stone contracts imposing certain requirements on suppliers regarding the way they describe the stone.

The standard is BS EN 12440:2001 Natural Stone. Once a contract states that stone must be supplied according to this standard it becomes a legal requirement. Stone Federation Great Britain are recommending their members get copies of the 96-page standard (available at £112 each from Construction Industry Publications. Tel: 0121 742 0824. Fax: 0121 722 8201).

The standard applies to any stone supplier - quarries, masons and fixers - and requires them to supply the traditional name of the stone (as opposed to a newly invented trade name), the petrological family, the place of origin and the typical colour.

If required to do so the supplier can also supply details of process conditions, natural features, the petrographic name of the stone and the geological age.

The standard contains a list of the majority of the natural stones produced in Europe and their petrological classifications. The list is not exhaustive, but it will inevitably be used by specifiers in the selection of materials.

The standards are produced by European committees comprising representatives of the industries and other interested parties of member states.

A whole raft of new standards relating to stone have been coming out of Europe for the past couple of years and there are more to come (see NSS September last year).

Once they are confirmed as British Standards they must be implemented in the UK.