London Stone says it is the first hard landscaping product supplier to announce it has become carbon neutral.

It has achieved the status without any price rises, as it says it is fully aware of the need to support its customers during the current cost of living crisis.

London Stone has six showrooms and three partner showrooms across the UK, with three new showrooms opening soon in Bristol, Hampshire and Manchester. It offers free nationwide delivery, exclusive discounts and benefits for trade customers and a state-of-the-art e-commerce platform for quick-and-easy online ordering.

The move to carbon neutrality at London Stone followed COP26 in Scotland in 2021. The London Stone Directors, brothers Steven, Duncan and Gavin Walley, who founded the company 15 years ago, decided not only to commit to reducing their own carbon emissions but to use their influence to pave the way for others in landscaping to follow them.

Managing Director Steven Walley says: “We’d be failing, though, if the carbon neutral commitment was just about us. Feedback from our customers tells us that we’re not alone in wanting to tread more lightly on our planet. They, too, want to commit to tackling our climate crisis but often don’t know how or where to start. We will help with this.

“We will be releasing information on how we can help raise environmental standards for landscapers, designers and other suppliers across the industry and will publish a series of blogs that explain our carbon neutral journey.”

London Stone will be working with several industry peers, personalities and organisations to help encourage more carbon reducing practices. Industry heavyweight and ‘King of Chelsea’, Landform Consultants' Mark Gregory, is London Stone’s first Green Ambassador. Mark is well known, not only for his award-winning gardens like the Savills Garden at Chelsea Flower Show this year, but also as a Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Landscape Ambassador and holder of the RHS Associate Medal of Honour.

Gavin Walley is Fulfilment Director at London Stone. He has headed London Stone’s move to ‘Net Zero’, taking various courses to understand how greenhouse gas emissions are quantified, verified and reported.

London Stone has worked with Carbon Footprint Ltd to achieve carbon neutrality. It has reduced its own carbon emissions but cannot control those from freight and haulage, for example, which it is offsetting by supporting carbon reducing projects in India, where it is already involved in ethical sourcing programmes related to the Indian stone it imports.

There is strength in numbers, which is why one of the areas Chris Kelsey is concentrating on during his two years as President of Stone Federation Great Britain is encouraging more companies to join the Federation. And with some success, as more companies have joined.

That was part of the good news at the Federation’s annual Members’ Event and general meeting, held this year at member Arup's offices in Manchester on 28 March.

“We are stronger as an industry if we all work together,” said Chris Kelsey. That’s particularly true when times get tough, and Federation Chief Executive Jane Buxey said: “It’s commercially brutal at the moment.”

With the benefits of the government’s Covid cash injections petering out, and prices and interest rates rising, the high levels of demand seen in the two years following the first Covid lockdown in 2020 are noticeably easing.

Jane Buxey reminded members that the more they participate in the Federation’s activities and initiatives, the more benefits they will discover from their membership and Chris Kelsey said: “If we continue to work together we will have a future to be proud of.”

Chris Kelsey also said he is keen that the voice of the stone sector should be heard when it comes to British and European standards that affect the industry. And he said he is supporting the publication of more technical documents from the Federation to add to those already valued by the industry, architects and clients, and he urged members to contribute to them when asked.

The Federation is taking its own advice on collaboration by working with organisations such as the Construction Leadership Council and the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), and strengthening its relationship with the Minerals Products Association.

Stone Academy

One difficulty stone companies are facing (although they are certainly not alone in this) is the recruitment and retention of staff. The Federation’s response is the creation of a Stone Academy, something Jane Buxey has been developing for some time.

This will replace StoneTrain, the Federation’s training arm, with a more comprehensive training body encompassing 25 career opportunities in the stone industry, covering skills such as quarrying, surveying and draughting as well as masonry.

It will encourage Stone Federation members to undertake lifetime training through continual professional development (CPD), presenting career paths through what Chris Kelsey described as a “training matrix” to elevate the industry in the vocational stakes, making it more professional and more attractive as a career to a greater number of people.

Stone Federation’s Digital Media Executive, Matt Robb, described the Academy as providing “pathways of progression” that could make the stone industry a “genuinely attractive industry to be part of”, because when there are clear opportunities to progress people tend to stick around.

Chris Kelsey emphasised the Academy will be providing additional training, not simply be attempting to replace what already exists. He described it as “training for the industry by the industry”.

Focus Groups

The Federation has a number of focus groups in which members involved in particular aspects of the industry can participate. There is the Quarry Forum, the Heritage Focus Group, the Landscape Forum and the Interiors & Surface Materials Focus Group. Reports from each, outlining their activities of the past year, were presented during the Members Event and it was clear video CPDs for presentation to architects have become an important part of the groups’ activities.

The Quarry Forum had actively engaged with the government’s consultation process on its Planning White Paper with the help of Sam Thistlethwaite, the minerals planning consultant who has been advising Stone Federation on this issue and helping it form its responses to government consultations on planning. Sam has helped the quarries engage with more than 60 local authorities on the development of Local Design Codes, which will roll out across the country, ensuring natural stone is included. (Read Sam’s latest report on planning with Stone Federation here).

Women In Natural Stone

Another group under the Stone Federation wing is Women in Natural Stone (WINS), which had its own lunch meeting at Brown’s in Manchester ahead of the late afternoon Stone Federation Members Event and AGM, which several of the WINS members also attended.

WINS has lately established a mentoring programme so that women joining the industry can be given guidance and assistance by those already well-established in it. This is to help this male-dominated sector to benefit from a greater level of diversity. Jane Buxey described WINS as an “overwhelming success”.

The Industry Choice Stone Award

No Stone Federation review of 2022 would be complete without a mention of the Natural Stone Awards, presented in December by architect, TV presenter and sustainability advocate Charlie Luxton at the Leonardo Royal London Tower Hotel in front of an audience of 360 architects, main contractors, designers, clients and stone industry companies.

It is described in the annual report as a “wonderful day” celebrating the best that the industry has to offer. You can see the souvenir brochure showing all the projects honoured in the Awards on bit.ly/NSA22Brochure.

During the Awards presentation event it was announced that the industry would be given a chance to choose their favourite from among the winners of each of the eight categories in the awards, covering all aspects of architectural stonework from new build to conservation, carving, interiors and hard landscaping.

The project that receives most votes will be presented with the Industry Choice Award. The winner will be announced during the Natural Stone Show at ExceL in London 6-8 June. You can see the winning projects and cast your vote at www.stoneshow.co.uk/vote-industry-choice-award-winner.

The Ethical Stone Register and EPDs

Stone Federation’s Digital Media Executive, Matt Robb, reminded members it wants them to join its Ethical Stone Register, which was launched in 2016 when the Modern Slavery Act came into force. Its aim is to help stone companies of all sizes to demonstrate their commitment to tackling modern slavery and human rights abuses in stone supply.

“We are aware this is an ever-changing landscape,” said Matt, pointing out that the Register’s responsible sourcing pledge is linked to the government’s Net Zero carbon ambitions as well as human rights.

Matt said the Register is gaining traction and could become a qualification requirement for specification documents. He said discussions are currently under way with three of the top main contractors who want to use resources like the Ethical Stone Register to strengthen their own ethical trading credentials. He reminded members “it’s here to serve the British stone market”.

EPDs (environmental product declarations) are also starting to be required and Stone Federation is working with One Click LCA (life cycle assessment). It enables companies to produce low cost EPDs in a matter of weeks using the One Click pre-verified EPD generator, which it describes as an automated tool to develop robust EPDs that comply with ISO 14040, ISO 14044, ISO 14067, EN 15804+A1+A2, ISO 21930 and ISO 14025.

Matt said Stone Federation will be presenting a “what, why and how” of EPDs at the Natural Stone Show at ExCeL London 6-8 June. Stone Federation will, as ever, be at the heart of the Stone Village of its members at the Natural Stone Show.

Matt said Stone Federation has been promoting the low carbon sustainability of natural stone for more than a decade and it is now right at the top of the agenda. And while the impressive sustainability of stone has not changed, many other building materials are now promoting their own claims to low carbon sustainability.

Matt said natural stone is the sustainable, carbon responsible choice for construction and that is a message the industry has to promote.

The Building Safety Act 2022 will change everything

Although the Building Safety Act of Parliament that was given the Royal Assent in April last year and should be fully implemented by October this year was a response to the fire at Grenfell Tower in London, it will affect every aspect of construction.

That was the stark statement by Tim Yates of BRE, giving a report on behalf of Stone Federation’s Health & Safety Forum, which is always one of its best attended groups, drawing interest from across all the various sectors of Federation membership.

Tim said: “The Building Safety Act will permeate every bit of the construction industry over the next few years. It will change the way everything is done. As an industry we need to be aware of that.”

Central to the new regime is the creation of a national Building Safety Regulator (BSR) and the identification of an Accountable Person.

The national Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is part of the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) with responsibility for monitoring the safety and standards of all buildings in England, encouraging increased competence in construction and among building control professionals, and leading the implementation of a new building control approval regime for the design, construction and refurbishment of higher-risk buildings like Grenfell Tower.

The Accountable Person is part of a ‘golden thread’ of vital information to safeguard building users against risks such as fire and structural faults in all buildings.

This ‘golden thread’ of information is the core of the Act. It requires all information and documents relating to any building to be collected in one, centrally held digital record, so anyone can find it.

The obligation for avoiding risks falls on duty holders among designers and contractors and the individual identified as the Accountable Person.

The obligation includes a requirement to put measures in place to ensure that current information and documents relating to the design, build, and management of the building, not least of the materials used, are easily accessible throughout its lifetime.

If a material is used that should be CE or UKCA marked, for example, and it isn’t, and it fails, the buck is likely to stop with the person who should have been responsible for ensuring the product is so marked.

Architects present their projects

Rounding off the Members Event in Manchester, two architects gave presentations of their projects: the Refurbishment of Manchester Town Hall, presented by Jamie Coath of Purcell; and the Glade of Light memorial to the victims of a suicide bomber at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester Arena in 2017, presented by Chartered Landscape Architect Andy Thomson of BCA Landscape.

Jamie Coath explained how the £330million refurbishment of Manchester Town Hall had started in November 2019 and became a victim of the Covid shut-downs early in 2020. That had contributed to delays that would mean the intended finish date this year would be extended to sometime next year.

When the scaffolding does come down, the building is expected to be admired. “We are hoping to make it sing,” said Jamie Coath.

Stone used for the project was Crosland Hill sandstone from Johnsons Wellfield with roofing from ‘Lord Burlington’s Lancashire quarry’, as Burlington’s quarry in Kirkby Moor was known when the now Grade I listed Town Hall was originally built in 1868-77.

The roof slates were completely replaced because the refurbishment has a design life of 140 years. The scaffolding and its enclosure alone cost £12million, so nobody wanted to have to re-erect it to repair a broken roof slate. For the same purposes of longevity, all replacement stones on the building were full thickness.

Where masonry was dismantled, such as chimney stacks, it was stored by masonry company Stone Edge if it could be re-used. Some of the stones were as large as 8ft x 4ft (2.4m x 1.2m). Stone Edge, which was one of 10 masonry companies on the project, made replacements where a stone was too badly eroded to be re-used.

The slates removed from the roof were mostly still in good condition and will be sold for re-use on more accessible roofs.

Some alterations were necessary, not least to make the building accessible, because every entrance had at least 11 steps leading to it. Some out-of-keeping 20th century extensions were also removed.

Repair work included the renovation of 37 chimney stacks and 1,165 windows. Marble statues had been stood on sandstone plinths, leading to the degradation of the sandstone as a result in a process better understood these days than when the statues were originally erected.

Iron cramps, mainly on the parapets, have been replaced with bronze. Marble and porphyry mosaics on the floors were in a poor state, having had inappropriate repairs over the years, and have been replaced by facsimiles using stone supplied from 14 quarries in Italy to match the originals.

Residents of Manchester have been able to watch some of the work being carried out for the renovation because artisan workshops have been set up on site that the public can look into. The project has also been used for training purposes.

For the Glade of Light memorial, Andy Thomson explained that the Japanese concept of Ma had influenced the design. This is the concept of what is left out being as important as what is included, creating a pause or emptiness, appropriate for the gap left by those who died at Manchester Arena.

Here Ma is represented by the white marble appearing to float above the retained Yorkstone paving. Andy said the purity of the white marble circle created from slabs 2.5m long x 150mm wide, bookmatched to give the impression of angel wings, is powerful against the contrasting wildness of the garden and the aged Yorkstone paving. The names of the deceased are etched into the marble in a fount selected by graphic designer Smiling Wolf.

The design of the garden was intended to address the climate crisis of global warming by actually sequestering carbon from the atmosphere during its 50-year design life. However, the marble is set on a poured concrete base, chosen to avoid having any issues with joins, so the memorial will not reach carbon neutrality until it has been there for 33 years.

You can read more about the Glade of Light here.  

Cliveden Conservation is holding a series of interactive conservation workshops as part of WREN300, the commemoration of the tercentenary of Sir Christopher Wren’s death by the 51 churches in the Square Mile of the City of London rebuilt in Portland limestone to Wren’s scheme after the Great Fire of 1666.

The first workshop is on 12 April and focuses on stone conservation. It is 10-11am and 1-3pm in St Bride’s Church in Fleet Street, London EC4Y 8AU.

It will show how Wren’s finest stone architecture and carvings are being preserved.

This is conservation in action. You will be able to see the Cliveden experts using the superheated water and laser products of, respectively, Restorative Techniques and Terra Measurements as they carry out stone cleaning at St Bride’s.

Members of the public, students, conservation professionals and anyone else interested in stone heritage is most welcome to attend. The workshops are free but you have to have tickets, which you can book here.

There will be live demonstrations of laser cleaning and the use of Restorative Techniques’ ThermaTech superheated water stone cleaning system at 10am and 2pm, and stonemason Amelia will talk about stone mortar repairs, repointing and material analysis at 1pm.

In the evening (6-9pm), again at St Bride’s, Oliver Caroe, one of the country’s foremost ecclesiastical architects and Surveyor of the Fabric of St Paul’s Cathedral, the most famous of Wren’s architectural masterpieces, discusses conservation of stone in relation to Sir Christopher Wren.

Starting the evening, stonemason extraordinaire Pierre Bidaud of The Stonemasonry Company and engineer Steve Webb from Webb Yates will provide ‘A walk through the New Stone Age’, offering new solutions in stone construction in the context of today’s social and environmental challenges.

To round off the evening there will be demonstrations of the HD3D digital surveys of the churches completed as part of the WREN300 programme, with an opportunity to enjoy a glass of wine with the people behind the current programme of conservation work from Cliveden Conservation, Terra Measurements and Restorative Techniques.

Then on 13 April everyone will be able to have a go at lettercutting, marking in stone and lime pointing at the stonemasonry experience day, 10-11am and 1-4pm at St Bride’s. You will learn about mortar repairs, indent repairs, repointing, mortar and stone analysis.

This is one you might like to bring your youngsters along to so they can have a go at some of the mason’s skills, including lettercutting, although they must be at least 11 years old.

Again it is free but you have to book, which you can do here.

Cliveden Conservation is a recognised IHBC CPD provider.

To book a place on the stone conservation workshops click here.

Would you like to help out?

Volunteers are being sought to help with the setting up and smooth running of the WREN300 workshops being held in April and May. As well as the stone-related events mentioned above, there are also workshops covering the conservation of metal, glass, wood, and plaster/paint.

For a job description and to apply, click here.

David Coster, Director of Advanced Stone & Masonry Supplies, which sells Stain Proof and Tenax products, talks to Steve Vanhinsbergh, who, with his brother Jeff, heads stoneCIRCLE, a leading stone company in the South of England.

Dave: Natural stone, quartz, porcelain/sintered stone?

Steve: Natural stone every time. Because it’s unique and because I’m a stonemason. At least, I identify as a stonemason in these modern times, so, yes, for me it is stone all the time.

Dave: Do you accept work straight from the CNC or do you prefer hand finishing?

Steve: It has to be hand finished. We are craftsmen. Hand finishing is the way we have always done it and always will because that’s the quality of the product we like to put out.

Does that extend to templating or do you prefer digital templating?

We are completely digital. We much prefer digital templating purely because that’s what you need to drive the machines. We’re good at it, it’s quick and I have still got templates for jobs we did nearly 10 years ago on the system, which you don’t have with a physical template.

It makes it easier to get templates to the factory if you are working away as well?

We work mostly in the Thames Valley / South East, but we go up to Sheffield. We have jobs in Birmingham. We have got one in the Isle of Man. We will go anywhere if the job is right. But mostly we work in the Thames Valley and the South.

Have you made any investments in the business lately?

We put a GMM Litox saw in last year and I’m throwing up an old Alpi block saw, just because it was offered to me and I thought: yes, that might add a little bit of extra to us. If something comes along we will give it a go.

Are you making moves towards improving sustainability and reducing carbon to help reach Net Zero by 2050?

We have solar panels on the roof, which produce about 40kW. We recycle our water all the time. All our waste goes for crushing to be recycled. So we are doing as much as we think we can, but there’s obviously always more we could do.

You predominantly work stone, so you don’t have problems disposing of quartz, I suppose?

Yes, we use mostly stone. We separate out other materials, but its mostly stone – it goes into foundations. When we built our new 2,500m2 workshop here in 2015 some of our recycled stone went into its foundations.

We hear on the news issues about inflation and the cost of living. Has that impacted you?

Most of the cost of living crisis is being driven by the staff, to be honest, because everyone is struggling.

Have you seen many price increases from suppliers?

Yes. They have been regular for the past two years. We have just tried to absorb some of them and some we’ve had to pass on. It makes life a little bit more difficult than it was.

You will have seen that the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Respiratory Health has published an up-date of its 2020 report on silicosis this year. Is silicosis something you are addressing?

Our guys have their hoods, dust booths and everything. We do our best to keep it down.

Because you are working mostly stone you probably don’t have the same problem as working engineered quartz?

We work everything wet. It gives you a better finish anyway, but it suppresses most of the dust.

Are you a member of the Worktop Fabricators Federation (WFF) or are you planning on joining it?

We’re not members at the minute, but it’s always a consideration. When I have more time in my life perhaps I’ll join.

Have you noticed any trends in the materials you are using?

Marble worktops are definitely making a come-back. More and more people want natural marble, which is great because that’s what I like and where we excel. That’s at the upper end of the market. The bottom end is still full of cheap quartz, sadly.

Are you optimistic about the future?

I think it’s OK, you know. With the mix of products we do the future seems to be fairly rosy. We probably get more enquiries than we can price, so it’s a question of choosing the right projects for us.

StoneCIRCLE has done some spectacular work. Can you tell us about any of the projects you are currently working on?

No, they’re all a little bit under the table. But we have a lot in the pipeline and new stuff coming through all the time, including cantilevered stairs. There’s some interesting projects coming through, so watch our socials and our advertisements.

While an old stone barn in Derbyshire was being converted into a holiday let a wall collapsed on a man involved in the work leaving him blind in one eye and deaf in one ear. He suffered a fractured skull, a bleed on the brain and multiple broken bones, including 11 of his ribs.

As a result, Derbyshire property owner Nigel Edwards of Tutholme, Woodhouses, Melbourne, Derbyshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 19(1) and 20(1) of the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2015 when he appeared before Derby Magistrates Court on 22 March. A 12-month community order requires him to complete 80 hours unpaid work. He must also pay costs of £4,097.94.

The injured man is 40-year-old Steven Tyson, who lives in Melbourne and is married with two daughters. He was rushed to hospital after the incident in October 2021 and spent 18 days in “immense pain”.

He said: “The pain was made worse by the fact I was unable to see my daughters in hospital due to the Covid-19 restrictions on visitors. I am still in pain today and struggle to put weight on my right ankle.

“Due to the traumatic head injury, I was unable to drive for six months.”

Derby Magistrates Court heard how the building had undergone significant structural alterations. It was while Mr Tyson was clearing up outside that the external face of the stone gable wall collapsed on top of him, causing the injuries.

An investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) found that Nigel Edwards had failed to have a structural assessment of the outbuildings undertaken prior to starting the work. As a result, no measures had been identified or implemented to stabilise the building while it underwent the alterations. Neither was there a plan in place for dismantling parts of the building safely, exposing workers and members of the public to the risk of injury or death from the full or partial collapse of the structures.

Mr Tyson explained how the incident left him unable to work in the construction industry. “I might never be able to,” he said. “The injuries have also impacted on my hobbies, which included karate, dog walking and metal detecting.

“I have also had therapy sessions to try and come to terms with the physical and psychological impacts of what happened. This is something I thought I would never have to do.”

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Robert Gidman said: “It is vital that all demolition and dismantling is adequately planned and that a competent structural engineer is engaged by those in control of work where there is the risk of collapse of any structure.

“If this project had been planned effectively, engaging the right people at the right time to ensure a suitable safe system of work was implemented, the life changing injuries sustained by the injured person could have been prevented.”

Last year stonemasonry company AF Jones announced it was giving its business three separate identities: heritage; masonry; interiors. It already had separate website for its heritage and masonry sections, now it has also launched a website for interiors.

The showroom had already been designed with interiors in mind, to attract the attention of those passing the firm's premises on the busy A4074 that runs between Reading and Oxford (read more about that here). A newly built workshop is opening specifically for interiors this year, which also frees up more space for architectural stonemasonry, both for new build and heritage work.

AF Jones Director Angus Jones was joined in the business last year by his daughter Megan, who becomes the sixth generation of the family in the firm. Megan has been working in marketing in fast-moving consumer goods and is now putting her skills to good use in the family business. Her influence has helped with the identification and development of the three sectors of the business.

The new Stone Interiors website covers kitchens and bathrooms, flooring, lining and natural stone staircases, all areas where AF Jones has extensive experience. It has advised on and sourced, made and installed the stone on some of the most prestigious builds and statement projects in the south of England, working with main contractors, architects, interior designers or directly for clients.

The AF Jones Stone Interiors site includes 'knowledge hub' videos, the first of which features Angus's brother Ken, who is also a Director of the business, talking about the spectacular cantilevered and post-tensioned staircases the company makes and installs. You can watch it below, as well as on the AF Jones new website and on YouTube.

There are other videos now also available in the 'knowledge hub', all lasting less than two minutes, as well as some written advice, which will be a useful tool for customers as they work through the development of their projects. The company prides itself on making the difference, as it says, between a good finish and an outstanding result.

A man has been killed in an industrial accident involving machinery at stone supplier Tradstocks in West Lothian, Scotland.

Emergency crews were called to the Tradstocks Westwood premises in Five Sisters Business Park, West Calder, shortly after 9am on Friday, March 17.

Tradstocks took over the equipment and premises of what was formerly Scottish Natural Stones Ltd at Westwood, near Livingston, in 2008. You can read more about Tradstocks here.

A 39-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. He has not been named but his next of kin have been notified, say the police.

Police Scotland say the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has been made aware and an investigation is under way.

In a statement, Tradstocks offered its condolences to the worker’s family, friends and colleagues. The company says its site will remain closed for now.

The statement reads: “We are deeply shocked and saddened by the death of a valued team member while at work on Friday, March 17.

“Our immediate thoughts are with his family, friends, and colleagues at this time.

“While the emergency services and HSE carry out necessary investigations into how and why this tragic accident occurred, as a mark of respect, and while everyone comes to terms with this tragedy, our Westwood site will remain closed until further notice.

“Due to the ongoing investigation, we are unable to comment further.”

A Scottish Fire & Rescue Services spokesperson said it was called to assist an emergency service partner. Operations Control mobilised two appliances and special resources. Crews left the scene at 12.07pm after ensuring the area was made safe.

An HSE spokesperson said HSE was aware of the incident and was liaising with Police Scotland.

Jon Prichard, Chief Executive of the Mineral Products Association, has written to Kemi Badenoch, who was appointed Secretary of State for the Department for Business & Trade in February, asking her to reconsider the government's stance on Geographical Indicators (GI). 

GI is a way of protecting products that are associated with a particular town or area from copies from outside that area. Melton Mowbray pork pies and Stilton cheese are protected, for example.

So far, the protection has only been given to food and drink products, but in Europe moves are afoot to extend that protection to other categories, including stone.

Debate about extending GIs goes back at least to the turn of the millennium. It is a move that has always been vigorously supported by Michael Poultney, the Managing Director of Albion Stone, which extracts and sells Portland limestone.

Imported natural stones and cast concrete products have been promoted by using the name of Portland, which Michael Poultney would like stopped. 

The extension of GIs to non food and drink products gained momentum in 2014 when the EU opened a public consultation on the subject. That was before the 2016 Brexit referendum and Stone Federation Great Britain, the Mineral Products Association and English Stone Forum joined other organisations in Europe, including the pan-European EuroRoc, of which Stone Federation GB is a member, as well as individual quarry operators and Natural Stone Specialist magazine in contributing to the public consultation by making the case for protecting the geographic name of stones such as Portland. (You can read reports from the time here.)

Europe now looks likely to extend GI to products other than food and drink, which prompted Michael Poultney to write to the British government asking it to make a similar move. A reply from George Freeman, Minister for Science, Research & Innovation, via Michael's constituency MP, eventually reached Michael. It said the government felt trade marks did the job and the government had no plans to extend GIs. (You can read more about this and see the letter from George Freeman here).

Michael Poultney sought help from the Mineral Products Association, which has a section devoted to dimension stone to which Albion Stone and many of the UK's other leading dimension stone producers belong.

Jon Prichard, Chief Executive of the Mineral Products Association, told Natural Stone Specialist in January: “The Mineral Products Association understands the concerns this issue raises for natural stone producers in the UK and intends to take this up with the relevant government department to ensure that the interests of all our member companies are properly understood and appropriately protected.”

Now, in a letter dated 16 March to the Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch MP as Secretary of State for the Department for Business & Trade, Jon Prichard says: "Our members have raised concerns that their products are facing unfair competition from lesser quality products that are passing themselves off as originating form [sic] specific locations across the UK, leading to loss of business for UK SMEs. For example, Portland Stone, which can only be produced on the Isle of Portland, is as geographically specific as a Melton Mowbray Pork Pie and we believe that it should be afforded similar protection against cheap imports being mis-sold using its name.

"The argument for natural products such as stone is similar to that for food. The protection afforded by the GI scheme is entirely appropriate for natural products. A trademark protects intellectual property and applies to a manufacturer who is able to distinguish their product from others in the market. It cannot be applied to a natural product that may be offered by more than one producer in a geographically defined area."

You can read the whole of Jon Prichard's letter by clicking on the link below.  

Following on from Stone Federation’s successful Local Authority Planning & Natural Stone webinars last year, the Federation hosted an update on Zoom from its consultant on planning, Sam Thistlethwaite, Director of IC Planning, on 16 March.

Sam said the consultation on the latest up-dates to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which began in December, closed early in March and will probably result in a new NPPF being published in three or four months.

The NPPF says achieving sustainable development means the planning system has three overarching objectives, which are interdependent and should support each other for net gains across each. The three objectives are:

• an economic objective – to help build a strong, responsive and competitive economy, by ensuring that sufficient land of the right types is available in the right places and at the right time to support growth, innovation and improved productivity; and by identifying and co-ordinating the provision of infrastructure
• a social objective – to support strong, vibrant and healthy communities, by ensuring that a sufficient number and range of homes can be provided to meet the needs of present and future generations; and by fostering well-designed, beautiful and safe places, with accessible services and open spaces that reflect current and future needs and support communities’ health, social and cultural well-being
• an environmental objective – to protect and enhance our natural, built and historic environment; including making effective use of land, improving biodiversity, using natural resources prudently, minimising waste and pollution, and mitigating and adapting to climate change, including moving to a low carbon economy.

Sam pointed out a couple of changes that could help the stone industry: the heading to chapter 12 has been changed so it now reads 'Achieving well-designed and beautiful places', putting beauty right to the forefront; and paragraph 135 now includes the phrase 'the primary means of [improving design] should be through the preparation and use of local design codes'.

A problem with including the word ‘beauty’, of course, is that it is in the eye of the beholder and does not have an objective definition.

There is also a significant change to paragraph 137 that is intended to try to stop so-called value engineering that results in specified materials being substituted on-site for cheaper materials. It will mean there will have to be real clarity about what will be used on-site, said Sam.

With Sam, Stone Federation has been involved in the development of Design Codes, which come under the auspices of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC). Design Codes require design quality appropriate for the area where the development is taking place.

The Lake District National Park, which is also a World Heritage Site, is one of the 21 ‘Pathfinder’ authorities involved in the development of Design Codes, and a particularly sensitive one in terms of materials because of the importance of slate and limestone in building in the area to maintain its essential character.

Building stone suppliers in the area have been involved in the development of the Design Code there. There is a lot of information about the Design Code on the Lake District National Park website. The 200-page Design Code is going to affect every development in the Lake District.

Feedback from the Pathfinder authorities developing Design Codes is intended to lead to a National Model Design Code that can be adopted by any planning authority (and there are about 400 of them in the UK). Consultation on the National Model Design Code is expected to open in April.

Because Design Codes include concerns about meeting the UK’s targets for the reduction of greenhouse gasses, the low carbon credentials of locally sourced stone is significant and Sam said the stone industry needs to be clearer about the carbon benefits of using local stones and present more information about it.

For more about the Lake District National Park Design Code, click here

• The Natural Stone Directory lists 300 dimension stone quarries currently in production and 200 quarry operators in the UK and Ireland. It includes full contact details. To order your copy, click here.

Hard landscaping giant Marshalls saw profits fall last year although revenue grew as a result of eight months contribution from the purchase of roofing product manufacturer the Marley Group.

Figures in Marshalls’ annual report show the natural stone and concrete manufacturer based in West Yorkshire saw profit fall 46% in 2022 to £37.2million from £69.3million in 2021. Revenue was £719.4million, up 22%.

Marshalls described the purchase of the Marley Group as ‘transformational’, diversifying and boosting trade.

Marshalls proposed a final dividend of 9.9p, bringing the total dividend for the year to 15.6p, up 9.1% on a year earlier. However, the share price fell 2% to 293p but was back at 301p on 16 March.

Marshalls says it is well placed to deliver profitable long term growth in spite of anticipated challenges in the UK economy in 2023.

Chief Executive Martyn Coffey said: "Our strategy is underpinned by our strong market positions, established brands and focused investment plans to drive ongoing operational improvement.

“Notwithstanding short-term challenges, the Board remains confident that the group is well-placed to deliver profitable long-term growth when market conditions improve and continues to focus on its key strategic initiatives."