Clients and regional teams from more than 30 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa were in attendance at Neolith's 'Reconnecting, Innovating, Growing' EMEA Summit in Castellón at the end of June.

During the three day event, delegates were informed about the company's results for the first half of 2024 and strategy for the second half of the year as part of plans to drive growth in the EMEA region and beyond.

In addition to presentations and sessions, attendees were able to learn about the new line of silica-free products that Neolith has recently launched in Australia, Neolith for a New Era – its new product line containing no crystalline silica in its formulation. Neolith partners were given a preview of the new Atmosphere product range, ahead of its global launch.

Speaking about the event, Jesús Ayarza, CEO of the Neolith Group, said: "We are proud to have held this meeting, which represents the strengthening of our company with essential allies for our business, with whom we continue to collaborate to continue to raise our brand and maintain our leadership in the market. Because together we turn challenges into opportunities for success, and all of them are undoubtedly part of Neolith's success. This drives us to continue working in the future in a very optimistic way".
 

Australia's landmark ban on the manufacture, supply, processing and installation of engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs commenced today. The ban has been introduced to protect workers from silicosis – a lung disease caused by exposure to respirable crystalline silica. 

According to a statement from health and safety policy body Safe Work Australia: "the ban does not apply to the controlled processing of previously installed engineered stone benchtops, panels or slabs for the purposes of removal, repair or minor modification, or the controlled processing of installed or uninstalled engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs for the purposes of disposal.

Any processing involved in work with legacy engineered stone for the above purposes must be controlled and PCBUs* must notify the relevant WHS regulator prior to carrying out this work with legacy engineered stone."

Stronger regulations of all crystalline silica substances will come into effect from 1 September 2024. 

Details of the ban and any transitional periods may be location-specific and any businesses concerned should visit Safe Work Australia's website for further information and to download the resources. 

*A person conducting a business or undertaking

A major strategic initiative to improve health and safety in the mineral products industry recognises the critical importance of sharing information and collaboration.

BAA, IQ, MPA, MPQC and QNJAC have come together as the ‘Strategic Safety Forum (SSF) for Health and Safety in the Mineral Products Sector’ to facilitate and encourage collaboration and co-ordination between key sector organisations for the good of the industry and deliver on a common purpose.

At the official public launch at Hillhead 2024 (held 25-27 June), it was stated that this collaborative forum, spanning the ‘aggregates, asphalt, cement, concrete, precast and masonry, dimension stone, lime, mortar and industrial sand industries’ across the whole of the United Kingdom, will help to ensure that the sector achieves the highest possible standards of performance in health and safety as part of its collective and individual, legal and moral responsibility, so that everyone who engages with the sector is kept safe and well.

The SSF will seek to develop consensus across the sector to encourage alignment of the members’ initiatives and will facilitate collaboration and sharing. Particular emphasis will be placed on eliminating harm arising from the six key areas identified as being responsible for the majority of fatalities and serious injuries:

• Contact with moving machinery and isolation
• Workplace transport and pedestrian interface
• Work at height
• Workplace exposure to respirable crystalline silica
• Struck by moving or falling object
• Road traffic accidents

To achieve its objectives, the SSF will co-ordinate its efforts on:

• Key health and safety Issues
• Standards, skills, education, and resources
• Consolidated data and the interpretation of data to inform action
• Consistent and aligned communication
• Engagement with contractors
• Such other priorities as the Forum members shall from time to time agree.

Martin Riley, chair of the SSF said: ‘I am delighted to see the collaborative work initiated by the previous Strategic Forum being taken forward with the support of the five key member bodies here. We all have a duty to ensure that our sector is safe, and that the wellbeing of our employees is delivered on a day-to-day basis.’

Stonegate Precision Tooling Ltd has announced its acquisition of National Masonry Ltd, also known as Stone Equipment International. National Masonry Ltd has been in business for more than 30 years and is the UK supplier of Marmo Meccanica machinery, primarily focusing on edge polishing machines. Until the acquisition earlier this week, it was headed up by managing director, Andy Bell.

Known to be one of Europe’s most competitive suppliers of new and used machinery, National Masonry Ltd’s business model focuses on enabling fabricators to save money on costly repairs, by part exchanging their existing machinery for newer and more effective models. Stonegate has stated it will "look to continue the important work done by Andy Bell, by working closely with Marmo Meccanica to ensure that UK fabricators receive the support, guidance and advice needed when assessing edge polishing options."

Stonegate Tooling's managing director, Graham Hazell, said: “Our mission is to put innovation at the core of our business and provide valuable advice that leads to an impeccable customer experience. We do this by working with fabricators and listening to their challenges, in order to provide the solutions and support they need to excel in what they do.

An established business like National Masonry Ltd, which has been brilliantly run by Andy for 30 years now, is a perfect addition to the Stonegate portfolio of solutions. We look forward to carrying on the excellent work and working closely with a prestige company like Marmo Meccanica.”

Andy Bell, Former National Masonry Ltd managing director, added:

“It goes without saying that National Masonry Ltd is very, very close to my heart. When I made the decision to step away from the business, I wanted to ensure that it was passed on to a safe pair of hands. I assessed many options within the UK market and discovered that the values and ethos of Stonegate were close to, not only my own, but also those of Marmo Meccanica. I will be staying with the business in a consultancy basis and am I excited to be part of the next stage in the progression of National Masonry Ltd and Marmo Meccanica in the UK market.”

The SPAB Heritage Awards will return in 2024 with five categories celebrating the best historic buildings and traditional craftspeople in the UK and Republic of Ireland. The biannual awards are organised by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) to recognise excellence across the building conservation sector. 

Anyone can enter or nominate a favourite building for the Best Loved Award, Sustainable Heritage Award and John Betjeman Award for places of worship, or an inspiring early-career craftsperson for the Building Craftsperson of the Year Award, while students and recent graduates can show off their design chops by entering the Philip Webb Award. The deadline for entries is 31 July, after which they will be reviewed by a panel of expert judges. 

In more detail, the awards are:

• The Best Loved Award recognises and celebrates old buildings getting the maintenance they deserve, and the people looking after them. The shortlist is put to a public vote and chosen by you.
• The Sustainable Heritage Award, sponsored by Keymer Handmade Tiles, celebrates sensitive, sympathetic and sustainable upgrades and repairs to traditional buildings.
• The Building Craftsperson of the Year Award, sponsored by Owlsworth IJP, recognises the best up-and-coming craftspeople and builders working with historic buildings or traditional materials.
• The John Betjeman Award celebrates the repair and conservation of places of worship.
• The Philip Webb Award is a design competition for architecture students and recent graduates that encourages the sympathetic reuse of existing buildings. 
   

A shortlist will be announced in September, and the final winners will be revealed at the Awards Ceremony on 14 November at the Barbican Centre in London hosted by writer, presenter, broadcaster and SPAB Ambassador Kevin McCloud. The Best Loved Award will be presented by historian, presenter and social media star Alice Loxton, a.k.a. History Alice, who will also be sharing the winners with her two million followers.

The Awards Ceremony will take place during National Maintenance Week, the SPAB’s annual campaign encouraging and supporting people to undertake simple maintenance tasks to keep their buildings in good working order. Storm Bespoke Secondary Glazing are the headliner sponsors.

Kevin McCloud said: “These Awards celebrate excellence in everything I hold dear: conservation, intelligent design, sustainability and craftsmanship. I’m proud to have been a member of the SPAB nearly all my adult life. Since 1877, the SPAB has guided us through the conservation process, built a vast reservoir of expertise, and championed sensitive contemporary architecture in pursuit of the distinction between old and new." 

For more information and to enter, head to spab.org.uk/get-involved/awards. 

According to its latest Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), Portland Stone by Albion shows the embodied carbon of Portland Stone extracted at Albion Stone’s mines and manufactured at the company’s factory has reduced by 68% since 2020.

The declaration, verified by OneClick in May 2024, considered Portland Stone alongside kiln-fired clay bricks where the embodied carbon reduction is 79%, while the reduction compared with precast concrete cladding is 81.5%. It’s also 100% recyclable. The report also says "when compared to any other source of Portland Stone and the industry average for natural stones within Europe (that’s both imported and home produced), Portland Stone by Albion shows an embodied carbon reduction of 83.3% and 84.4% respectively."

This embodied carbon reduction is largely achieved due to the sustainability measures Albion Stone has implemented for more than two decades. In 2002, new technology was employed to open the first ever mining operation for extracting Portland Stone. Another significant development occurred in 2011 with the installation of solar panels and every company car is now electric.

Portland Stone is known to be one of Britain’s most prestigious masonry façades and has been used to construct iconic buildings including Buckingham Palace, St Paul’s Cathedral and the United Nations Headquarters in New York. 

It’s 1am. I've only met Nigel twice and I really want to send him a message. I hold out for another seven hours and pick up my phone. I drop the formalities. “In theory”, I type "could there be Collyweston slate under my house?" He replies: “Sounds like we've got competition.”  Living less than two miles from Claude N Smith, the Collyweston slate mine, my question is quite a reasonable one but without applying to open a mine, I’m unlikely to find out. The mine was founded by Claude in 1965 and, in 2016 Nigel and his wife Viv reopened the mine following Claude’s retirement. Visiting the mine some months before was an easy commute, bumping over the field on my bike, passing the rock that looks like a wild dog and the toppling, lichen-covered dry-stone wall, the cement works in the distance. And I’m there. Collyweston stone is a sedimentary fissile oolitic limestone formed in the Jurassic period and in the office there’s a fossil dating back to the Bajocian age – known as a water spider, its official name is Phyllochilus bentleyi which I’ve struggled to type yet alone pronounce. This ‘spider’ was discovered by fossil collector John Flowers Bentley who was one of the founders of the precursor to Peterborough Museum. This specific fossil is only found in the seams of Collyweston stone.  

Nigel kits me out with boots, hat and an orange hi-vis fleece (you can keep that, he says), and we walk toward the mine’s entrance through a gate. So far, it’s almost unremarkable but within a couple of minutes, we’re in and all is still. It would be quiet too, but I'm talking. Lime oozes out of the slate and there's the beginnings of stalactites. It’s an underground cathedral with a stillness I’ve not experienced above ground. A sense of calm surrounds us and I feel no need to fill this space with talking. Nigel asks if I’d like to see the old tunnels and despite being claustrophobic, I do – they are narrow and low, twisting and turning this way and that. The tradition of Collyweston slating dates back more than 600 years and the epicentre of that is right here where I am standing. These tunnels are now obsolete and instead the stone blocks (known as logs) are now mined by a robot who asks less questions than I do. 

Sintered stone company, Neolith has revealed its business plan for the second half of the year with a focus on international expansion, new products and the introduction of a new crystalline silica-free line.

The announcement made on 11 June details that the company will open three new distribution centres in three continents to strengthen the international implementation of the brand. These will be Gothenburg, Sweden, Los Angeles, United States (as part of renovation work to open a new Neolith distribution centre) and the company is also renovating another distribution centre in Auckland, New Zealand. In total, the company will have 25 distribution centres across the world by the end of the financial year.

Its new line, Atmosphere, is expected to launch by the end of this month and will be comprise four new products. On the launch of Atmosphere, Jesús Ayarza, CEO of Neolith Group (who is celebrating his first year in the position in July) said: “These models will add a fresh breeze of innovation to all of our other collections and will help complete our already broad catalogue of designs. We’d like to keep on getting ahead of the market needs and trends by offering new products are at the forefront of the industries and create standards for the sector worldwide."

Parallel to the launch of Atmosphere will be the launch Neolith's silica-free offering called Neolith for a New Era. It will be introduced first in Australia and then be rolled out globally.

“The demand will set the pace for the implementation of our new crystalline silica-free product line in different territories. Neolith has made great efforts and a high investment in R&D to develop our surfaces for a New Era, and we’re convinced they will meet the most demanding professionals’ needs very well. These new crystalline silica-free products have the same technical characteristics our customers so adore. We truly believe marble workers and installers will be impressed by how you can work with them,” said Ayarza, adding that “we can already clearly see there will be a period of conversion between materials such as compact quartz, which have been on the market for years, and are losing in market share to other technically superior products like Neolith”.

Reflecting on last year, Ayarza said: “2023 was a year in which we found ourselves up against major challenges since the overall demand for construction materials had dropped in many markets. For 2024, we want to be ambitious and moderately optimistic. The first quarter of the year has ended very well above our forecasts, with our majority shareholder CVC as well as the entire management team putting in all the necessary ingredients and reinforcing our teams, in addition to considering an expansion of Neolith’s production capacity in order to respond to the increasing demand we’re experiencing”.