Kings Square, Gloucester, is part of the wider Kings Quarter regeneration project by Gloucester City Council / Reef Group / Gingko Projects that uses natural materials to create a contemporary interpretation of the Gothic architecture in the city. Forest Pennant commercial paving products from the Lovell Stone Group were chosen for the horizontal surfaces of the square, which has jet fountains in the middle. The Pennant sandstone was supplied as mixed colour sawn paving, mixed colour bush hammered setts, cropped top setts, radial kerbs with demi bullnose and kerbs. Forest Pennant is quarried and processed in the Forest of Dean, less than 17 miles from Kings Square, contributing to the low carbon footprint of the project. E G Carter was the contractor working with George King Architects.

Last year, two of Marshalls’ senior managers, Dave Sanger and Chris Frankland, decided there was room in the market to establish their own company to supply natural stone to the commercial and domestic landscaping markets. In June, Tectonix Natural Stone was born.

Between them, Chris and Dave have 35 years’ experience of supplying stone to the landscaping industry, Dave on the commercial side and Chris in the domestic sector. And Tectonix aims to use the full extent of the two men’s experience to supply both commercial and domestic projects.

On their website they say the company arose from “a deep-seated passion for natural stone, a passion for the beauty hard landscaping can provide, and a passion for delighting our customers”.

But delighting customers does not stop with stone. There has been a significant growth of the use of porcelain in landscaping in the past few years and while porcelain does not get a mention on the company’s website home page, it is there among the products.

Chris told NSS: “Dave and I are stone people; it’s the reason we got into this business. But there’s a desire and demand for porcelain, so we have a porcelain option.”

He says some people say the porcelain from one country is better than that from others, but Tectonix is finding the porcelain from developing countries it has had tested performs just as well as porcelain from established producers such as Italy, although Tectonix offers products from both.

Nevertheless, stone was the focus that led Chris and Dave into starting their own business. They say they had been talking about it for some years and it was Covid that gelled the idea into action by making them realise you don’t know what’s round the corner so if you want to do something you should get on with it.

Since forming the company Dave and Chris have been joined by another of their colleagues from Marshalls, Ashleigh McHale, who is Operations Manager and facilitating the projects in the business, freeing Chris and Dave to concentrate on customers.

Dave says: “Chris and I are people-led people.” What he means is they want to work with customers on projects, whether those projects are 20m2 patios or major town centre redevelopments, responding straight away to enquiries, sending out samples on the same day they are requested and providing quotes that are straight forward and easy to understand for products that are are perfectly suited for the intended application.

They have used their experience to source stones from all over the world, although they have concentrated on China, Europe and the UK in the main. They have lately found a new source of Yorkstone from a company that recently opened a small delve. They say the stone looks reclaimed, and although they did not set out with the idea of supplying reclaimed stone are happy to have found this distinctive product because they aim to be able to source just the right material for any project they are involved in. And, says Chris, to supply it “with a smile on our face – that’s lost sometimes.”

As they say on their website: “In a nutshell, we believe this is an industry where people and relationships matter, this is why we started Tectonix and in essence what we’re all about.” Dave says they used their relationships and “mined our own networks” to pick up a lot of momentum from people they know. Their first contracts have included the supply of granite for a £100,000 project by Murrill Construction for Watford Borough Council on Queens Road, Watford. The project (pictured on the left) is underway and due for completion in March this year.

With the government and Bank of England concerned about inflation and talking about recession there is a certain amount of doom and gloom about, although Chris says that is not reflected on a project by project basis as far as he is concerned. “I think this is going to be a better year than people think – there’s a momentum. We’re not focusing our energy on the negative.”

The government has resisted making sustainable drainage compulsory but a new review by DEFRA says it is time to implement Schedule 3.

England looks as if it is finally about to implement Schedule 3 of the Flood & Water Management Act 2010, making sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) compulsory on all new developments.

Schedule 3 has not been implemented in England (although it has in Wales) because the government preferred to use planning policy, which, since April 2015, has required SuDS to be included in all new major developments (more than 10 homes), unless there is clear evidence that this would be inappropriate.

It is amazing how often it has turned out to be inappropriate.

Many developers have simply ignored the requirement for SuDS and planning authorities have seldom enforced it.

The reason is not so much a problem with installing a sustainable drainage system as concerns about the on-going maintenance of it, which neither developers nor cash-strapped local authorities want to take responsibility for.

In 2020 regulations were changed that allowed SuDS to be adopted by water and sewerage companies (collectively known as WaSCs) as sewers, but it has made little difference to the number of SuDS being built.

Schedule 3 provides a framework for the approval and adoption of drainage systems, with SuDS approving bodies (SABs) in unitary and county councils, and national standards on the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of SuDS throughout their lifetime.

It also makes the right to connect surface water runoff to public sewers conditional on the drainage system being approved before any construction work can start.

The recommendation to make sustainable drainage systems mandatory for new developments in England comes in The review for implementation of Schedule 3 to The Flood and Water Management Act 2010, which was published on 10 January this year by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

The review follows last year’s revelations about how much sewage is discharged into Britain’s waterways, especially when drainage systems become overwhelmed by heavy rainfalls. And rainfalls are becoming heavier as the world gets hotter because the hotter the air the more water it can carry.

New developments add to the risk of flash floods and sewers becoming inundated because they cover permeable surfaces such as grassland and soil that would otherwise absorb a lot of the rain.

The implementation of Schedule 3 is intended to reduce the risk of surface water flooding and pollution and help alleviate the pressures on drainage and sewerage systems.

This approach will require sustainable drainage systems to be designed to reduce the impact of rainfall on new developments by using features such as soakaways, grassed areas, wetlands and permeable surfaces.

Permeable surfaces are where natural stone, especially sandstone laid on permeable beds, can make a contribution. Concrete companies are already working on more products to satisfy Schedule 3. 

Sustainable drainage reduces the amount of water that ends up in sewers and storm overflow discharges. Features such as tanks and water butts can also allow for water re-use to reduce pressures on water resources – and we saw last year how a long, dry period can deplete water in reservoirs.

Following the publication of The review for implementation of Schedule 3 to The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 (which you can download from tinyurl.com/watersched3), the government says regulations and processes for the creation of sustainable drainage systems at new developments will now be devised and that implementation of Schedule 3 is expected during 2024.

Builders are already objecting. Rico Wojtulewicz, head of housing & policy at the National Federation of Builders, says: “Developers are ending up paying for the under investment of the water companies. It will have a real impact on the industry, particularly for the smaller developer.”

The government says it will be mindful of the cumulative impact of new regulatory burdens on developers. It has never reached its target of getting 300,000 houses built each year and it does not want to put more barriers in the way of developers.

There will be a public consultation later this year to collect views from industry and interested parties.

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said on the publication of the DEFRA review: “Our traditional drainage systems are under increasing pressure from the effects of climate change, urbanisation and a growing population.

“The benefits of sustainable drainage systems are many – from mitigating flood risk by catching and storing surplus water and reducing storm overflow discharges, to enhancing local nature in the heart of our developments and helping with harvesting valuable rain water.

“Taking a more consistent and effective approach to sustainable drainage systems will improve the resilience of our drainage and sewer infrastructure, while reaping these broader benefits.”

While the stone industry has not generally been proactive in promoting the benefits of its products for SuDS, landscape architects and designers have noted those benefits. They also like stone’s aesthetics.

Stone could also get another boost this year from the Protect Duty, also known as ‘Martyn’s Law’ in tribute to Martyn Hett, who was killed alongside 21 others in the Manchester Arena terrorist attack in 2017. There have been 14 more terror attacks in the UK since 2017.

In December the Government announced details of the new law that is intended to scale up preparedness for, and protection from, terrorist attacks. They include a requirement for physical barriers to prevent vehicles from gaining access to public areas and arenas. While concrete barriers might do the job, they don’t look attractive as permanent features, so you might expect more and heftier stone street furniture to be used to fit the bill.

The Bill introducing the requirements is expected to receive the Royal Assent and become law this year.

The government intends to offer support, guidance and training to help embed best practice and drive-up standards across the UK. A new online platform called Protect UK (www.protectuk.police.uk) has been developed by the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO), Home Office and Pool Reinsurance to support those seeking to enhance their protective security. ProtectUK is a central, consolidated hub for trusted guidance, advice, learning and engagement with experts in security and counter terrorism. It will serve as the ‘go to’ resource for free, 24/7 access to the latest information. It  will be regularly updated.

Marshalls, the landscape products heavyweight, has responded with a section of its website dedicated to protective and aesthetic street furniture.

Chris Churm, MD of Marshalls Natural Stone, has also been given the role of Managing Director of Marshalls Landscape Protection. He says: “Protect Duty is also an important topic in our industry right now. The new legislation expected to come into force in 2023 is one of our priorities and we are working with the experts in our team to ensure that our product range offers suitable solutions to meet requirements.”

Martyn’s Law will follow a tiered model linked to the activities that take place at any particular location and how many people are likely to be there at any one time to avoid creating an undue burden on businesses.

The government says it will establish an inspection and enforcement regime that will promote compliance and a positive cultural change. “Credible and fair” sanctions will be issued for serious breaches.

A stone memorial to those who died in the attack on Manchester Arena in 2017 was one of three projects for which Hardscape supplied the stone that received recognition in the Stone Federation Natural Stone Awards in December. One of the other projects for which Hardscape supplied the stone – Elephant Springs in Elephant & Castle in London – was the category Award winner.

Incidentally, Hardscape’s founder, Mathew Haslam, last year became the latest person to transfer ownership of a company to its employees through an employee ownership trust.

An employee ownership trust is where the employees of a business own all or most of the shares in a company. It is growing in popularity as it offers benefits for businesses, their owners and employees, especially as a way of succession planning.

But back to the Stone Awards: all the projects in all the categories, including the Award winner, a highly commended and three commended projects in the Landscape category, were included in the Awards souvenir brochure in the previous issue of Natural Stone Specialist, and there is a report from the event online at tinyurl.com/StoneAwards2022.

The projects recognised in the Natural Stone Awards are clearly going to involve some of the best uses of stone that will, in hard landscaping as in all the categories, inspire more use of natural stone.

Although the use of imported natural stone (at least), in hard landscaping has continued to grow in any case, apparently unabated by the Covid pandemic, according to figures from HM Revenue & Customs shown on the graphs below.

Brazil is an important source of stone for the British market, with its quartzites (in particular) having revived demand for natural stone in interiors, where engineered quartz has dominated.

Brazil's Vitoria Stone Fair has become one of the world's major stone exhibitions. It was held this year from 7 February to 10 February and Simon Chan was there for Natural Stone Specialist magazine. His report will be in the next issue of the magazine. In the meantime, there is a short overview of the exhibition in the video below.

Held in Vitória, the capital city of the state of Espírito Santo, the 20th Vitória Stone Fair opened its doors to much excitement and fanfare in February following a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Presented and organised by Veronafiere do Brasil (Veronafiere Group) with their partner Milanez & Milaneze, the normally annual trade extravaganza is supported by a number of key industry organizations, including the Brazilian Center for Ornamental Stones Exporters (Centrorochas) and the Brazilian Trade & Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil).

As with previous shows, this year’s Vitória Stone Fair was well-received and, once again, brought together all of those who have a keen interest in the design and use of Brazilian stone as a building material for spectacular architectural projects. 

More than 300 exhibitors took part in the exhibition, to promote their natural stones, machinery, equipment, and technologies and, according to Centrorochas, the 2023 edition of the Vitória Stone Fair was one of the most popular and best-attended shows in the event’s 20-year history. 

With 1,000 varieties of natural stones on show (the largest and most diverse collection on display in Latin America) under one roof and a highly successful conference programme featuring a packed schedule of high-calibre speakers – not to mention a host of networking opportunities for show attendees to share knowledge, ideas and make crucial industry connections – Vitória Stone Fair 2023 was a huge success.

Speaking to Simon Chan of Natural Stone Specialist magazine following the grand opening ceremony of the Vitória Stone Fair on 7 February, Fabio Cruz, vice-president of Centrorochas, commented: “Brazil has the largest natural and geological diversity in the world, and there is simply no better trade show in the Americas to showcase the strength, versatility, and beauty of Brazilian ornamental rocks than the Vitória Stone Fair. 

“There continues to be fantastic support for the event from exhibitors and the wider public and private sectors, and we are really thankful for that. As part of our ‘It’s Natural – Brazilian Natural Stone’ initiative [in partnership with ApexBrasil], we have strong ambitions to encourage and increase exports of Brazilian stone materials and products to the global market.

“At this year’s show, we welcomed more overseas developers, contractors, architects, and designers than ever before, and international interest in the trade fair was the strongest it has ever been, drawing in visitors from far and wide.”

Indeed, the annual Vitória Stone Fair has firmly taken its place among the world’s top-tier stone exhibitions / conferences and continues to be a significant event for exhibitors to do business and showcase the magnificence of Brazilian quartzites, marbles, granites, and slates after all the constraints of the past two years.

David Coster, Director of Advanced Stone & Masonry Supplies, which sells Stain Proof and Tenax products, talks to Adam Reuvany, Sales Manager of stone wholesaler BloomStones London, which is currently settling into new premises.

Dave: Quartz, sintered stone / porcelain or natural stone?

Adam: For me, I would go all day long for natural stone. You can’t beat the depth in the colours and the way that they look. But for what’s relevant, it’s got to be quartz every day of the week because that’s what the market knows. And porcelain is coming, whether anyone likes it or not, and will be a thing that, if it isn’t already, will happen.

Dave: Are you an advocate of straight off the CNC or hand finishing?

Adam: I have worked on the tools, so I will always say that anything not finished by hand doesn’t feel right to me. But that’s because I was a mason, and the quality coming off the CNC has changed a lot since I came off the tools. The finishes now are a lot better than they used to be, so I’m probably going to say the CNC should be there if people are working in the right way.

Dave: What have you looked for in the materials that BloomStone, as a wholesaler, has chosen to offer to its customers?

Adam: Our specialised range is quartzite. I love quartzite. I like the weird and wonderful. You get colours that are a bit special. I have spent a lot of time looking into finding the right quartzites and I would say where a lot of people go wrong is that they don’t actually understand a lot about the products. They don’t know how to identify a true quartzite or distinguish it from something like a dolomite. They’re misinforming people and buying the wrong products.

Of course, we also do sell a lot of quartz. It’s the market relevant product and we sell loads of it. We sell granite and a little bit of marble, although we might do a bit more marble in the future.

And, yes, we sell porcelain. We represent ABK Stone, with matching floor tiles if needed, and we sell Prime under-surface induction hobs, which have a good place in the market once you get people to have a bit more knowledge of the product.

How do you deal with ethical sourcing?

We try to buy ethically sourced products as much as we possibly can. The problem is there’s certain parts of the supply chain where you’re never going to know really what you’re buying. You can try. You can do your best and just hope for the best really.

Are you working towards energy saving and Net Zero in 2050?

Here, literally in the last week or so we have bought an electric fork lift to help us contribute to going in the right direction.

Before that, the only relevant thing we did was bought LED lights. And I have just bought a Mitsubishi Outlander, which is a plug-in hybrid. We’re looking at ways we can improve our fleet, but what’s available is a bit limited for commercial vehicles at the moment.

You have obviously just invested in new premises, but do you have plans for further investment?

Yes, our investment at the moment is the premises we’re in. We have moved from premises that were in a pretty terrible location, being quite honest about it, although we did quite well there over the years. We have now moved on to this industrial park with businesses wrapped round us that are hopefully going to bring some passing trade.

We are investing heavily in having a show space here with a yard that is nice and open and people can come and see the stock. After that we’re getting a crane in place, so we can put more investment into our stock.

Are you doing that because it’s good for the business or because logistics demand it?

I would say a combination of both. One of the good things about the move here is that we are right on the doorstep of the M25, so logistics should, if anything, have become easier because we used to be a little bit further out. In terms of business, we have been growing year on year, so to come to somewhere bigger in a bit of a cleaner area with brighter premises is going to be nothing but a benefit to us.

Are you still suffering any fallout from Brexit or Covid?

One of the main things we noticed from Covid was how busy we got and I kind of think a lot of that’s going to fall off a bit now. I think anyone who says that they’re not seeing that workload levels have gone down a bit would probably be telling a couple of porkies. We’re far from struggling, we’re doing OK as a business – it’s going well – but it’s gone back to where it was pre-Covid, I would say.

What do you think the trends will be in the next year to 18 months as far as products are concerned?

I’m hoping we are seeing the back end of white with grey veins for a starter. I’m sick of seeing it. Anything with glitter and shimmer seems to still be a thing as well, but, again, I hope we are seeing the back end of it. That’s what I would like to see. We are seeing people going more for natural stone because they’re understanding that they’re spending a lot of money on a kitchen.

The kitchen industry theory is backwards because they go out and buy the drawers first, even though nobody’s going to walk into a kitchen and go: awf, look at your drawers! That’s why things like natural stone are having a good rise up at the moment. They offer more of a wow! factor. A lot of people now seem to understand that has to happen in their kitchen space.

You told me you plan to exhibit at the Natural Stone Show in London this year. What will you be doing for the exhibition?

Hopefully we will be able to put in something a bit special that I don’t think anyone has seen happen at the Stone Show before. We will be having… the best way I can put it is that it’s a live display, something that will get people’s taste buds fired up and get them ready for a new product we are bringing out on to the market.

To finish off, can you gaze into your crystal ball and tell me what the future is like?

In terms of business for the future we are probably in for a rough ride for the next 12-18 months, but anyone who doesn’t realise that is not keeping up with current affairs. The market is a bit volatile, which shows in the dollar exchange rate that has affected a lot of businesses. I’m hoping, though, we can just keep pushing forward from where we’re already at, getting our materials in people’s faces and trying to inspire people to do something a little bit different with their kitchens, which is something we have always encouraged people to do.

You have these nice new premises, will you be having an open day to invite people in to see them?

We haven’t fully moved in yet. Until we get the crane in we’re going to hold off from having anything in terms of an open day, but we will definitely be looking at doing something like that once we’re fully settled in here. There will be a bit of free food and alcohol, so everyone can pop along when it happens.

This is stonemason Beatrice Searle’s story of her 1,300-mile journey to Trondheim Cathedral pulling a 40kg stone she calls the Orkney Boat on a converted sacktruck she names Marianne.

Her journey has been inspired by the stories she is told of Magnus Erlendsson, the Patron Saint of Orkney, by her stonemasonry college tutor, and a mason’s banker mark found on stones in both Lincoln Cathedral, where Beatrice is an apprentice, and Nidaros Domkirke (Trondheim Cathedral), which starts a conversation between the masons at each.

She visits Orkney, chooses a stone, carves footprints on it and sets off for Trondheim in Norway dragging it behind her, inviting people she meets along the way on the ancient Gudbrandsdalen pilgrim path to stand in the footprints and experience what they will.

It may sound a bit unlikely, but it is a story everyone can relate to because it unfolds as a metaphor for life, in which the hardest journeys can be the most rewarding.

If you have read and enjoyed Alex Woodcock’s King of Dust, published in 2019, and Andrew Ziminski’s The Stonemason, published in 2020, you will probably enjoy Beatrice Searl’s Stone Will Answer.

There is a review of the book in the Natural Stone Specialist magazine. If you would like to, you can download a PDF of it below. To subscribe to the magazine, click here.

After being closed for more than a decade, Welsh Slate has re-opened Ffestiniog Quarry and it is back in full production, producing the world renowned blue-grey roofing slate.

Welsh Slate says the re-opening is due to a huge demand for Welsh slate in the UK and worldwide.

The slate from Ffestiniog has a smooth riven texture. The majority of the production is focused on the core sizes (500 x 300mm, 400 x 250mm and 300 x 200mm) in three thickness grades: Capital (5.5mm), County (7mm), and Celtic (9mm). The quality of the stone will allow production of roofing slates in excess of a metre long for those who require it.

Ffestiniog Quarry is in the heart of Blaenau Ffestiniog in North Wales. It was opened for slate production in 1818. The slate from it was formed by the Ordovician slate beds laid down more than 470million years ago.

Ffestiniog Quarry characteristically produces a thin, uniform slate with less texture than the slate from Cwt-y-Bugail, another nearby Welsh Slate quarry. It does not have the immense capacity of Welsh Slate's quarry at Penrhyn in Bethesda but is still able to produce sufficient volumes of roofing slate to meet demand.

Re-opening the quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog will lead to the recruitment of 20 more staff. They will help produce 25,000 roofing slates a week initially and the number is expected to rise quickly to 30,000.

Seven of the new recruits will be based at Blaenau Ffestiniog, extracting and transporting large blocks of raw slate to Cwt-y-Bugail at Llan Ffestiniog, three miles away. Six more staff at Llan Ffestiniog will saw and split the slate for the rivings to be dressed at the company's main Penrhyn Quarry.

Roofing slates from Ffestiniog Quarry were used on such prestigious projects as Kings Cross and St Pancras railway stations, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and Westerloo Town Hall in Belgium.

The slate was particularly popular in southern England, south Wales and The Netherlands because the light weight of the tiles meant they were particularly cost effective to transport, mostly by ship, as a shipping duty had been introduced in the UK in 1795.

Ffestiniog roofing slates are blue-grey in colour, generally lighter in shade than Cwt-y-Bugail's dark blue-grey slates and with a finer grained texture, which is what makes it possible to spilt them slightly thinner and in larger formats. Although their colour is different to Penrhyn Heather Blues, the texture is similar.

The re-opening of its Blaenau Ffestiniog quarry will also enable Welsh Slate to re-establish its offering of Ffestiniog architectural products for external and internal applications such as cladding, paving, flooring, window cills, copings and fire hearths. 

Returning the quarry to roofing and architectural slate production has required a significant investment by Welsh Slate, part of the Breedon Group that lays claim to being the largest independent construction materials group in the UK.

Sophisticated geotechnical mapping of the site identified underground chambers from the days when the slate was mined. There was minimal overburden, which meant the existing roof of the mine could be removed to expose the pillars of slate left by mining for extraction, a process that had been started by the previous owners in 1973 but was abandoned. The slate deposits identified by surveyors are expected to last for the foreseeable future.

Commercial director Michael Hallé says: "It's a far cry from its peak in the 1870s when the quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog employed more than 2,500 people and produced around 10million slates a year, but the re-opening of our Ffestiniog quarry will improve the availability of Welsh Slate overall, with total output from the three quarries amounting to more than 100,000 slates per week.

"We are delighted we will now be able to meet the exceptional demand from both domestic and export markets for this high-quality slate. There has been a strong interest from the merchants and roofing contractors in the UK and abroad and we look forward to seeing Ffestiniog gracing roofs again.

"The investment in re-opening this quarry, to allow safe extraction of the material, was considerable, but many skilled roofing contractors, particularly in The Netherlands, where our slate is of far superior quality to local slate, prefer the Ffestiniog slate."

Welsh Slate also applied successfully last summer for planning permission to increase the life of Penrhyn Quarry, the largest of the Welsh Slate quarries that was, at one time, the biggest slate quarry in the World.

If you need help in understanding the precise benefits of the slates from the different quarries, or which grade of Ffestiniog Welsh Slate roofing to choose for your roofing project, Welsh Slate will be happy to hear from you to explain more. Call 01248 600656 or email enquiries@welshslate.com

www.welshslate.com

Francisco Martinez, who owns Cosentino, the Spanish manufacturer of Silestone and Dekton, has agreed to pay €1.1million compensation to five people (although one of them has died) who said they were not provided with adequate warning of the risk of being exposed to silica dust as a result of cutting and polishing Silestone countertops.

The compensation was part of a plea deal in a court in Spain that saw a prison sentence of two years nine months sought by the prosecutors reduced to six months (suspended) for five counts of serious injury due to gross negligence, reports Reuters.

Cosentino immediately issued a statement saying that liability had been admitted for providing insufficient technical information affecting five workers at a specific workshop only, and that the court’s ruling "cannot be generalized to any past or future proceedings". (You can read the full Cosentino statement by clicking here or on the link at the end of this report.)

Reuters says 71-year-old Francisco Martinez is due to appear in court again in July for a separate trial in the northern Spanish city of Bilbao, where prosecutors are asking for two and a half years' imprisonment on six counts of reckless injury.

Cosentino employs more than 5,000 people worldwide and posted record sales of €1.4billion for 2021. It reportedly plans an initial public offering (IPO) of shares that could be worth as much as €3billion.

Cosentino’s statement says "it is the fabrication shops’ responsibility to ensure the safety of their workers by properly implementing and enforcing safety measures".

It also says: "News articles that refer to other admissions made by Cosentino are completely false, including that Cosentino concealed information about the health & safety measures required to fabricate Silestone or that the handling of Silestone has caused the majority of cases of silicosis that have affected 1,856 workers."

It points out that this case took place in a "context where the relevant facts of the case are from more than 15 years ago when the applicable legislation was imprecise, and the science of occupational risk prevention had not yet evolved to today's standards".

According to Reuters, in the ruling on 7 February the judge said Francisco Martinez had failed to provide adequate warning of the danger from the silica content of Silestone despite being aware of the safety and health risks that the processing of the material entailed.

Historic building conservation contractor DBR (London) Ltd has developed a three-year partnership with the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) to support the QEST scholarship programme.

Coinciding with this year's National Apprentice Week (6-12 February), the QEST/DBR scholarship enables those involved to further their craft skills in the preservation of the UK’s built heritage.

The scholarship programme is open to anyone looking to enhance their craft skills in built heritage, from stonemasonry and plasterwork to leadwork and joinery.

The successful candidates will receive a substantial bursary funded by DBR, which will go towards specialist training in their chosen field, from traditional college courses to vocational one-on-one training with a master craftsperson or a bespoke programme of short courses.

The scholarship is open to those aged 18 or older who can demonstrate a high level of skill and a strong body of work and experience in their chosen field.

Applications for the QEST/DBR Scholarship will open in July for an award in November 2023. Entries will be judged by a panel of QEST experts.

Adrian Attwood, DBR Executive Director, says: "This is an important development in our commitment to provide opportunities for the next generation of skilled craftspeople. As DBR is a Royal Warrant-holding company, QEST, as a charity of the Royal Warrant Holders Association, was our ideal partner, upholding the values of quality and excellence.

"We are extremely proud of our highly skilled craftspeople and this annual QEST/DBR scholarship will ensure our legacy to continue to support the future development of crafts skills in the UK."

Deborah Pocock, CEO of QEST, says: "DBR’s commitment to developing and sustaining craft skills makes them an ideal partner for QEST. We must all be concerned about passing on skills to the next generation and ensuring that we have appropriately trained individuals to conserve our built environment. We are grateful to DBR for enabling this annual scholarship."

DBR’s scholarship partnership with QEST represents the first step in a wider campaign, The Year of the Master Craftsperson (YMC), which seeks to promote the social and cultural importance of heritage conservation skills.

YMC’s wider aim is to celebrate current industry practitioners and the amazing work they do, as well as encouraging more young people to consider a career in this highly creative and rewarding sector.

Set to launch in the Spring, DBR's YMC campaign will showcase some of the UK’s most impressive conservation projects and the people involved in them, while offering practical guidance and advice for those considering a career in built heritage.

To find out more about the QEST scholarships and to express interest in applying, click here.