The 7th Natural Stone Show, being staged at ExCeL, London, 14-16 March 2006, has an impressive range of visitor attractions planned.

For the first time there will be a demonstration area to help provide a better understanding of the processes involved in using stone in construction and conservation.

There is a special Conservation Area where experts from English Heritage, Historic Scotland, the Dry Stone Walling Association and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) will be among those available to discuss issues. Here, too, there will be working demonstrations of craft skills throughout the three days of the event.

The Stone Federation Great Britain village will, as ever, be centre stage, with members exhibiting their goods and services and on hand to provide advice and guidance on all aspects of stone selection, fixing and maintenance.

Stone Federation will also be presenting their highly acclaimed RIBA

CPD-accredited Stone in the City seminars to provide help and guidance on the use of natural stone in construction today.

And there will be the second Natural Stone & Building Conservation Conference. Following the success of this conference at the Natural Stone Show in 2004, when 633 delegates attended, the 2006 conference will maintain its broad focus on both new build and conservation.

The Conference is being organised in conjunction with the main show supporters: Royal Institute of British Architects, English Heritage, Stone Federation Great Britain, the Architects\' Journal and Natural Stone Specialist.

Show director Richard Bradbury emphasises that the Natural Stone Show offers visitors, especially from the architectural and design community, not just a chance to see stone but to understand it.

"Stone is up there with glass and steel as a modern construction material," he says. "If it\'s not on an architect\'s palette or in a developer\'s vocabulary they are depriving themselves of a vital ingredient of so many award-winning projects. And there is no greater opportunity in the UK of learning about the latest developments in the use of stone than visiting the Natural Stone Show.""