Dr Tim Yates from BRE in Garston, Hertfordshire, has taken over the mantle of President of Stone Federation Great Britain. The Presidential chain of office was handed on to him at the Federation's new-look, four-hour annual meeting on 17 November by his predecessor, Graeme Haddon. Graeme has just left the Scottish firm of Stone Engineering to join property developer Ashwood Scotland.

During his two-year tenure, Graeme restructured Stone Federation so that members could belong to groups focusing on their particular areas of interest. Unlike committees, there is no rigid structure to the groups and any Stone Federation member can attend a group meeting as they are able to when they want to contribute to that particular area of concern.

The Federation already had a Quarry Group, headed by Marcus Paine of Hutton Stone, and a hard-working Technical Committee. It now also has a Stone Heritage Group, chaired by Bernard Burns of Szerelmey; a Landscape Forum, chaired by Gordon Hines of Marshalls; an Interiors & Surface Materials Group, chaired by Chris Kelsey of stone wholesaler The Marble & Granite Centre; and a Sustainability & Ethical Sourcing Forum, chaired by David Richardson, the now independent stone consultant who was previously a Director of BRE. David also chairs the Technical Committee and is currently compiling a Technical & Ethical Stone Register setting out, among other things, the ethical trading credentials of Stone Federation and listing the member companies that satisfy the criteria.

Each of the group chairs reported on the progress of the new groups during the meeting. The retiring and new Presidents also gave their reports and there was a guest speaker, Jason Syrett, a Partner at the architectural practice of Allies & Morrison, who spoke about the company's master plan for King's Cross in London.

Jane Buxey, the Stone Federation Chief Executive, said the dreaded letters 'AGM' had been relegated to a secondary position in announcing the meeting, which was called 'The Members Event'. It seems to have worked. The new format attracted about 20% of the Federation's 241 members, which is the best turnout for the AGM for several years.

There will be more information and photographs on the Stone Federation Great Britain page in the December issue of Natural Stone Specilaist magazine.