National Highways is currently working on the A417 Missing Link scheme, creating 5.5km of new dual carriageway between Gloucester and Cirencester. As part of this project, the team are painstakingly building 7.5kms of dry stone wall along the route. This wall will be incorporated into the scheme to help the road blend into the landscape, protect sites of special scientific interest, such as where wildlife lives, and reinstate old walls that have fallen into disrepair. 

The majority of the dry stone wall will follow alongside the new A417, with other sections along parts of the B4070 and Barrow Wake car park.
A team of 12 masons who were taught how to construct Cotswold stone walls by experts at the Dry Stone Walling Association have been on site since early 2024. They expect to be finished in mid-2026. In the summer, the scheme is hoping to take on an apprentice so the skills can be passed on to the next generation.

Steve Foxley, project director for the A417 Missing Link, said: “Our work on this vital scheme goes beyond simply building a new road, but also helping to preserve and enhance the landscape.

“We’re delighted to be able to support such worthwhile projects which will help to support and reconnect the A417 with local heritage and the landscape whilst also helping to keep traditional skills alive. Our project team has already started working with dry stone wall specialists using traditional methods to build new sections of wall alongside the new road. Visitors can already see the fruits of their hard work – and it is hard work!”

Bernard McEnroe, managing director of Master Stone Masons UK, said: "We’re delighted to be involved in this incredible project, helping to preserve the timeless beauty and heritage of the Cotswolds. Dry stone walling is an age-old craft that not only defines the landscape but also embodies the skill, dedication, and craftsmanship passed down through generations. At Master Stone Masons, we take immense pride in ensuring that this tradition continues to thrive, maintaining the authenticity and character of these historic structures.

"A project of this significance demands the highest standards, and we are incredibly grateful for the invaluable guidance and expertise of the Dry Stone Walling Association (DSWA). Their dedication to excellence has been instrumental in ensuring that the quality of the work meets the rigorous standards expected of this traditional craft. Preserving heritage is at the heart of what we do, and we are proud to play our part in keeping the Cotswolds' iconic landscape intact for future generations."
 

Quartz surfaces manufacturer Vadara Quartz Surfaces has formed a distribution partnership with The Thomas Group and its brand, The Surface Collection as part of an international expansion.

Vadara has been established in the US for many years and will now capitalising on its innovative designs, streamlined operations, and keen insight into local customer preferences with further expansion plans.

“In the United States, Vadara has built a reputation for quality and innovation, and now is the ideal time to bring tailored solutions to diverse global markets, stated Erik Butler, chief operating officer at US Surfaces, Vadara’s parent company, “With a focus on meeting unique tastes, budgets, and lifestyles of our customers worldwide, Vadara is ready to expand its footprint and continue its growth internationally.”

The partnership between Vadara and The Thomas Group was born from a mutual goal of bringing premium handcrafted quartz products, curated color palettes, and a diverse range of pricing options to the UK. Vadara recognises that strong regional teams depend on the foundation of local leaders who understand their markets and excel at navigating diverse channels.  

“Vadara operates two state-of-the-art plants with 34 production lines to meet the growing global demand for our products effectively,” Andrew Evans, VP of global sales & marketing at LE Surfaces, Vadara’s manufacturing counterpart, added. “By producing our raw materials and maintaining the highest quality control standards, we ensure that we consistently deliver on the needs and expectations of our clients worldwide."

After studying the competitive landscape in the UK, Vadara is confident in its ability to provide a highly differentiated product to the market with its handcrafted designs that are virtually indistinguishable from natural stone, allowing consumers to afford the look of marble and quartzite at a lower price point with the added benefit of durability and ease of maintenance.

Global expansion will remain a priority for Vadara, as they have chosen Australia for their subsequent international market activation. Vadara is also exploring further growth opportunities across Europe, Southeast Asia, South America, and other high-potential regions.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has released a report highlighting 215 new cases of Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) in Great Britain during 2023. HAVS is caused by regular and frequent exposure to hand-arm vibration. As a result, the organisation has created a hand-arm vibration exposure calculator to assist businesses in managing the risks of vibration exposure. This tool can be accessed through the HSE's website: Hand-arm vibration exposure calculator.

In addition to the calculator, guidance on managing vibration risks specifically in construction can be found under HSE’s “Construction Physical Ill Health Risks: Vibration” section. The guidance includes practical steps for employers to protect workers from exposure, such as reducing the use of vibrating tools or introducing vibration-reducing equipment.

The HSE also pointed to a recent case where a local council was fined £60,000 after an investigation revealed that workers had been exposed to significant vibration risks. The case serves as a reminder of the importance of taking preventive measures to protect workers' health. A detailed report on the prosecution is available on the HSE's website.

To further assist businesses in managing vibration risks, the HSE will be hosting a one-day training course on hand-arm vibration management on Tuesday 4 March 2025 at its Science and Research Centre in Buxton. The course will cover best practices for reducing vibration exposure in the workplace and is aimed at employers, managers, and health and safety professionals.

Bookings for the course are now open: Hand-arm vibration: management in the workplace.

The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) has launched its strategy for the next five years. This strategy has been developed to reinforce SPAB’s role as the expert source of advice and skills development for people who care for our built heritage, ensuring old buildings are better managed and valued as an integral part of a low-carbon future.

By 2030, the organisation has pledged to share the SPAB Approach with new audiences whose love of history or ownership of a period property prompts them to discover guidance, training and expertise, while growing and deepening engagement with its supporter base of members, volunteers and enthusiasts.

This year, SPAB will complete its site-based training project repairing Old House, Boxley and sell the building. In 2027, the charity will celebrate its 150th anniversary renewing its commitment to seeing all old buildings better understood, cared for and protected, just as William Morris outlined in 1877 when founding SPAB.

Highlights of SPABs strategic focus will be:

• Emphasising the value of the SPAB Approach to sustainability, carbon reduction and energy efficiency in historic buildings.   
• Expanding the reach of its well-established educational activities and advice-giving.   
• Emphasising site-based learning through projects, training events and education programmes, to increase understanding and conservation skills.  
• Sharing the SPAB Approach with new audiences and widening reach through targeted membership campaigns and engagement activities. Ensuring everyone feels welcome and finds its help accessible.   
• Maximising SPAB’s potential to deliver public benefit through cultivating partnerships, compatible sponsorships and grants, and encouraging donations and legacies.  
• Building stronger connections across SPAB’s national branches, regional groups and specialist sections.  
• Maximising the potential of the 150th Anniversary as a celebration of SPAB’s illustrious past and as a launchpad for future activities.

For more information and to download the strategy, visit https://www.spab.org.uk/news/spab-strategy-2025-2030-summary

Ireland's dry stone walls have been officially recognised by UNESCO in its List of Protected Cultural Heritage practices. 

The longest continuous length of dry stone wall in Ireland, known as the Mourne Wall, is located in County Down and snakes a path 35km long across the rugged countryside. It passes over 15 summits of the tallest mountains in the region, known as the Mourne Mountain range, including the majestic Slieve Donard – the highest peak in the north of Ireland at 850m. The impressive wall is constructed entirely from local granite and took eight years to complete, with construction beginning in 1904.

This is the fifth Irish cultural practice to achieve this status with Uilleann Piping officially inscribed in 2017, followed by Hurling in 2018, Irish Harping in 2019 and Irish Falconry in 2021. 

Ken Curran, trustee of The Dry Stone Wall Association of Ireland wrote on the association's website: "The intangible cultural nature of how the knowledge has been retained, makes it vulnerable to loss without support for the active communities who are the bearers of the practice. The addition of Ireland to the UNESCO inscription is recognition of the many individuals and communities around Ireland still practicing dry stone construction and everyone involved in the safeguarding of the practice. 

"Having had Dry Stone Construction added to the list of countries on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity inscription is wonderful news for all of those communities."

The themes for the free-to-attend sessions that will take place in the Stone Show Seminar Theatre as part of this year's Stone Show and Hard Surfaces have now been announced.

Taking place from 7-9 May at Excel, London, the show's seminar programme features nine sessions over three days, giving insights into the key developments that will shape and transform the stone industry over the next decade, as speakers and panels explore decarbonisation, sustainable design, digitalisation, and more.

Wednesday 7 May

Natural Stone: The Low Carbon Construction Solution
This brings together some of the leading voices around the topic of using natural stone to decarbonise the built environment and explore some of the resources and studies that demonstrate the impressive sustainability credentials of natural stone.

2024 Natural Stone Awards: The Industry Choice
Each of the 2024 Natural Stone Awards category winners have gone into a public vote to find the industry’s favourite project. This session will feature presentations from the architects behind some of these award-winning schemes as well as the Natural Stone Awards: The Industry Choice.

Stone Federation Student Architect Prize
Stone Federation are passionate about inspiring the next generation of architectural talent to utilise the beauty, sustainability and versatility of natural stone. The Stone Federation Student Architect Prize will celebrate those designs which demonstrate the use of natural stone to deliver a sustainable project, grounded in its locale that addresses a current challenge faced by the built environment.

Thursday 8 May

Using the Standards to Deliver Sustainable Projects
This will look at the how the latest updates to the British Standards and industry best practice guidelines can help architects, designers and specifiers deliver more sustainable projects, and will cover recent revisions to paving design and internal cladding guidelines.

The Changing Face of UK Quarrying
Exploring how modern technologies and efficiencies have enabled the UK quarrying operation to deliver some of the lowest carbon products available globally. It will ‘myth bust’ some of the preconceptions that people might have about the practice of quarrying and UK quarrying and introduce some of the new products being produced by the quarries.

Structural stone: The New Horizon
Over the past few years there has been a growing momentum of research, conferences and articles around the impressive sustainability credentials of load-bearing or structural stone projects. Amin Taha’s 15 Clerkenwell Close project undoubtedly brought this way of using stone to the headlines. This session will unpack some of the exciting developments around this conversation.

Friday 9 May

Uncovering the UK’s Forgotten Stones
The UK is home to perhaps the richest geology on the planet, and this session will look at some of the schemes in place and being developed to fully utilise our indigenous natural stone as well as discussing the challenges faced of the commercial growth of the UK stone market.

Natural Stone and Retrofit: A Natural Fit
As part of the efforts to reduce the carbon impacts of the built environment, there is a fresh drive for clients to prioritise the retrofitting of existing buildings over demolition and rebuild. This session will explore some of the key topic around this conversation.

Emerging Talent Award: Celebrating and Inspiring the Next Generation of Stone Industry Talent
Alongside the presentation of the Emerging Talent Award, this session will explore what the industry is doing to invest in the next generation and discuss the challenges of training and talent retention and how the industry is looking to solve these.

To find out more and to register, visit: https://www.stoneshow.co.uk
 

The world has never felt so still, so calm and so quiet to me as the evening when I stood inside the central chamber of the long barrow at Fingask Castle in the Braes of the Carse in Scotland. The skies, the darkest tones of obsidian and the stars clustered as if guardians of the moon.

We are taught to fear the dark, perhaps we even fear the night and yet, when I turned my head torch off and looked up through the main oculus, I had the most visceral sense of being alive; an imperceptible sensation in my solar plexus. Underneath my feet, autumn leaves had gathered, windswept into an oval shape.

I’m standing in a structure that’s been built by a small team of men led by seventh generation stonemason, James Davies whose father, Geraint Davies is a master stonemason and designer of long barrows. Each barrow is drawn by hand and in 2014, Geraint completed the long barrow at All Cannings, Wiltshire – thought to be the first Neolithic-style burial mound to be built in the UK for more than 5,000 years. It can be described as a columbarium – with more than 200 niches and, within these, cremated remains can be placed in urns.

All Cannings is owned by Timothy Daw who was a historic property steward at Stonehenge and would often experience grieving relatives wishing to scatter loved ones ashes within this spiritual place. This of course isn’t allowed. He knew people wanted a more natural, less commercial way to remember the dead and a barrow made sense to him.

It was Geraint who persuaded Timothy to build the barrow from stone –  dry-stone laid honey-coloured limestone with a Sarsen stone entrance like the one at Stonehenge. It’s now a registered Druidic Place of Worship and those who visit can celebrate Solstices and Equinoxes. There are regular open days throughout the year and visits can be arranged.