Following the success of the Natural Stone Show at ExCeL in March, the London exhibition centre has been booked again for the Seventh Natural Stone Show in its usual two-yearly spot in March 2006.

The Show in March this year was the biggest stone exhibition ever staged in the UK and a sample survey of 80 exhibitors of all categories from the UK and overseas afterwards gave ExCeL a higher-than-ever 80% approval rating as the venue for the Show.

ExCeL is now well established as a major exhibition centre in London. It is within half an hour of central London by Underground and Docklands Light Railway and by the time the next show opens on 14 March 2006 a new Docklands Light Railway link to the City airport will also be open.

The new 10-minute rail link to the City Airport will make visits from Ireland, Scotland and mainland Europe even easier.

Although orders for space at the Seventh Natural Stone Show will not start to be accepted until September, already 50% of exhibitors at this year\'s Show have reserved their preferred positions for the next Show.

They are companies from the UK like Albion, Mowlem Rattee & Kett, Pisani, Ebor and Harbro, as well as overseas companies such as Beltrami (although they have a depot in the UK as well), Antolini Luigi, Tekmar, Serpentino e Graniti, Dimpomar-Rochas and IGM.

As well as having a greater variety of indigenous and imported stone on show than ever before seen under one roof in the UK, the Natural Stone Show was also the place to see the latest machinery and tooling available for working stone.

The conservation of stone also formed a major part of what the Natural Stone Show at ExCeL was all about.

And the Show was backed by the UK\'s two main association\'s representing stone companies - Stone Federation Great Britain and NAMM - as well as by the Royal Institute of British Architects and the lead conservation body English Heritage.

There was also the unique benefit to the exhibitors at the Natural Stone Show that it reached an audience of more than 50,000 architects, designers and stone specialists before the Show itself even opened its doors because it was backed by Natural Stone Specialist magazine and the Architects Journal group of publications.

Show manager Richard Bradbury, who signed the contract for the Natural Stone Show to return to ExCeL in 2006 this moth (July), says: "The whole package offered by the Seventh Natural Stone Show combines to provide a unique and unparalleled opportunity to reach the whole spectrum of decision-makers in the stone specifying process."