The Stone Industry Alliance, the organisation established to monitor the industry\'s Hallmark Scheme, has had its first preliminary meeting and the Hallmark Scheme is now officially up and running.

The first companies to receive the Hallmark will be sandstone suppliers George Farrar (Quarries), consultants Harrison Goldman, and masons Classic Masonry.

The announcement that the Scheme had started was made at the Stone Federation\'s annual meeting in London last month (September) by Tim Yates of BRE in Garston, Hertfordshire, who are providing the independent assessment of companies joining the Scheme.

The Scheme is not quite as originally planned because a latent defect insurance element, similar to the National House Building Council\'s 10-year guarantee on new houses built by members, has been dropped, the argument being that companies that can get the insurance don\'t need it.

However, the independent assessment of Hallmarked companies will enable customers to have confidence in the quality of the business they are dealing with.

The Scheme covers every aspect of the use of stone from design to fix, although each category is separately assessed and there is a charge for each.

Tim Yates said they were trying to hold the basic cost at somewhere between about £1,500 and £2,500 over a three-year period, there being a major visit by BRE initially and then every three years to make sure standards are being maintained.

But he said the Scheme was intended to bring commercial benefits to those with the Hallmark. "You only have to win one extra contract during a year to make it worth your while," he pointed out.

Every member of Stone Federation will automatically be registered with the Scheme initially, although the Scheme is open to everbody, not just Federation members. They will then have three years to make their way through the process of gaining the Hallmark.

Hallmarked companies will appear on a register that will be supplied to local authorities and others involved in specification. There is no Hallmark website yet, but there is talk of one.

Tim said they were still looking for architects and developers to join the scheme "because it\'s absolutely crucial that people start to write into their specifications that they prefer to use Hallmarked companies".

Jane Buxey, director of Stone Federation Great Britain, added afterwards: "To be successful, Hallmarked companies have to be specified and they will only be specified if the industry embraces the Scheme with enthusiasm.

"Stone Federation has put an enormous amount of time, energy and money into developing the Scheme for the benefit of the industry. "The Hallmark has the potential to be a powerful marketing tool for the industry, but now it\'s up to the industry to decide whether it wants to use it or not."

The Scheme is run by Stone Federation Great Britain and monitored by the Stone Industry Alliance, which also deals with any complaints against Hallmarked companies.

The Alliance currently consists of Paul Sims (BRE Certification), Tim Yates (BRE), Peter Harrison (representing specifiers/designers and Stone Federation), Iain Kennedy (representing stone producers) and Bruno Miglio (representing specifiers). Jane Buxey participates in an observer capacity. It is also intended to recruit representatives of architects, cleaning and restoration, installers, Scotland, and two representatives of clients. The first full meeting of the Alliance will take place next month (November).

The idea of the Hallmark was introduced as part of the government\'s continuing effort to kick the cowboys out of the construction industry following the Latham Report, Constructing the Team, published in 1994 and the subsequent Construction Act.

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