A brick and stonework restoration company, Brick Restoration Ltd, and its two directors, Stewart Bailey and John McCole, have been fined and ordered to carry out community service following the death of a construction worker using a dichloromethane (DCM) -based paint stripper in a confined space.

The use of Dichloromethane as a paint stripper is prohibited unless it is for professional use by a competent person who has completed the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) competence training scheme and is certified. The course can be carried out online.

Products containing DCM should not be sold to people who do not have not the certificate. If you want to take the course, call Mark Priestman on 07876 687212, or email him on mark@priestmanweb.com. More advice on using DCM can be downloaded from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) website here.

In the Brick Restoration case, Alexandru Sorin was overcome by dichloromethane (DCM) vapour at a property in London on 25 July 2017.

He was working on his own stripping paint from the walls of a lightwell in the basement of Berkeley Gardens, London. DCM vapour is heavier than air and can accumulate in confined spaces with poor ventilation. While carrying out the work, Mr Sorin was overcome by the DCM vapour and died from the exposure.

An investigation by the HSE found that Brick Restoration Ltd failed to implement any effective measures to control Mr Sorin’s exposure to DCM. It concluded that his death could have been prevented by eliminating the risk associated with DCM by using a different paint removal method or by substituting the DCM paint remover for a less hazardous product.

At City of London Magistrates’ Court on 21 July, Brick Restoration Ltd of Worboys Road, Worcester, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 7(1) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 and was fined £50,000 with £2,805.64 costs.

Stewart Bailey of Worboys Road, Worcestershire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was sentenced to 200 hours community service and ordered to pay costs of £2,805.64.

John McCole of Savill Gardens, London also pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was sentenced to 200 hours community service and ordered to pay costs of £2,805.64

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Owen Rowley said: "Mr Sorin’s death was entirely avoidable. DCM is a volatile solvent and exposure to high concentrations of vapour can cause loss of consciousness and death.

"Anyone intending to work with DCM-based products should carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment and implement appropriate control measures. Crucially, DCM-based products should only be used in well ventilated areas to prevent the build-up of vapour.”

www.hse.gov.uk

The Natural Stone Industry Training Group (NSITG) is currently working with member company Wates to recruit trainees on a pre-employment programme leading to an apprenticeship working on the Houses of Parliament.

Apprenticeships will be offered in stonemasonry, carpentry and roofing.

This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will provide an introduction to the heritage conservation sector that would give those taking part an impressive start to a career in the sector.

The programme includes an induction to heritage craft trades on live working sites on the Parliamentary Estates, followed by a six-week assessment programme at the Building Craft College in Stratford, London. Successful candidates will then be offered an apprenticeship in a heritage trade.

• Opportunity to work on long term programmes involving the restoration of Parliamentary Estates
• Assessment programme course includes: accredited training, information, advice and guidance and work experience
• No previous experience is needed
• Fully funded

To be considered for this programme you must be willing to attend an awareness event and assessment day early in September. Successful candidates will then embark on the full six-week course and, on the successful completion of that, there will be the opportunity to undertake a full apprenticeship in stonemasonry, carpentry or roofing.

To apply you must:

• Be over the age of 19
• Live in London
• NOT be in full time Education

All applicants selected for the programme are expected to have good punctuality, show interest and engagement in the course, progress in skills, and work well as part of a team that includes other students.

To apply, contact Jon Brookes on 07740 485855 / jonathan.brookes@wates.co.uk. Postal address: Norman Shaw North, Victoria Embankment, London, SW1A 2TT.

A 13th century shipwreck in Poole Bay, Dorset, has been found containing two complete Purbeck limestone gravestones in almost mint condition, including tooling marks. There is also a broken tombstone and other examples of Purbeck stone, including Purbeck Marble, which was widely used in British and European ecclesiastical buildings and stately homes during the medieval period.

Before this discovery, there were no known wrecks of seagoing ships from the 11th to the 14th century in English waters.

The wreck has been given the highest level of protection under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973. It becomes the oldest of just 57 wrecks in English waters protected in this way.

Known as the Mortar Wreck, the surviving oak timbers of the clinker-built hull were felled in Ireland more than 750 years ago, making this the oldest known protected wreck in English waters where remains of the hull can still be seen. Irish oak was frequently exported for shipbuilding during the Medieval period.

Analysis of the timber with tree ring dating shows the trees were felled between the 1240s and 1260s, during the reign of King Henry III.

As more of the wreck is uncovered, more artefacts are expected to be found that could provide information about the winning and working of the limestone from Purbeck. 

It is intended that finds from the ship will eventually go on display in one of Poole Museum's three new maritime galleries that are due to open in 2024. 

The Mortar Wreck was discovered in Poole Bay in Dorset by Trevor Small, who has operated diving charters from Poole in Dorset for the past 30 years. Further research of the wreck has been carried out by Bournemouth University, which has made a video of its dives (see below).

Two other exceptionally well-preserved shipwrecks have also been protected under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 – the 16th century Shingles Bank Wreck NW96 and the 17th century Shingles Bank Wreck NW68, both discovered off the Needles Channel, Isle of Wight, by divers Martin Pritchard and Dave Fox.

The survival of pre-1700 ships is extremely rare, as is the unearthing of previously unrecorded wrecks in the Solent, where people have been diving for many years. That makes these discoveries nationally significant.

Historic England says the two Purbeck stone gravestones with different Gothic designs on them are like those found in churchyards across the South Coast of England. They are particularly significant because they were carved and not blank slabs, suggesting a high level of demand for skilled stonemasons and their products.

The fact that they contain two different designs is also relevant, as it had been assumed one of the designs followed the other, but this indicates both designs were used at the same time, possibly during a transitional period between the two.

Other finds on the Mortar Wreck include a large cauldron for cooking soup, a smaller cauldron, which would have once had a long handle, for heating water, and mugs covered in concretion (a hard mass that forms over objects underwater over time).

Historic England has been working closely with Bournemouth University and Trevor Small to investigate the Mortar Wreck. Historic England says it reveals a rich web of maritime trade using the English Channel and Irish Sea in this period.

Hardscape is the latest company to transfer ownership 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.

Hardscape was founded by Mathew Haslam in 1994, originally selling British stone, but as natural stone became more popular for hard landscaping, thanks to companies like Hardscape, UK quarries could not meet the demand and Hardscape and others looked abroad.

Hardscape sourced its stone from Europe, Asia and a small volume from India, although it never offered the cheap riven sandstone from India that other companies turned to because, says Mathew Haslam, "it's not our market and not demanded on award-winning public realm projects!".

And award-winning public realm projects are what Hardscape likes to be involved with. You can read about its contribution to just such a scheme at Elephant Park in London here and for the Glade of Light memorial to those killed by a suicide bomber at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester here.

For nearly 30 years, working with a global supply chain that it has always endeavoured to ensure supplies ethically-sourced products, Hardscape has provided designers and construction with a wide choice of materials, more in more ways since the formation of a separate company called IP Surfaces (read more about that here).

Mathew only went public about being the owner of Hardscape in 2018. He said he knew the team of 70 he had spent 23 years nurturing was ready and formed. It was ‘their time’, he said. Now he has transferred to them the ownership of Hardscape and IP Surfaces.

Under the employee ownership arrangement, Mathew says environmental and social governance will always be key facets of the business, as are the company values that he says have enabled Hardscape to build a loyal team with rich experience across all areas of the business.

“Our values, which are embedded into everything we do, allow us to deliver products and services which our customers expect,” says Matthew in a statement about the creation of the employee ownership trust.

He says: “People are a massive part of why we achieve what we achieve, and with that in mind and to further our company ambitions we are pleased to announce that Hardscape has become an employee-owned business.

“This creates an enduring ownership structure with tangible employee benefits, resulting in a long-term strategic view and increased business investment, for the benefit of our customers and business partners.

“Going forward, the leadership of the business will by forged by its existing Directors, Alex Warren, Anthony Collins, Chris Wood and Dave Lowe, assisted by a senior management team and supported by myself and Nick Owen as a newly appointed Independent Trustee Board Director.

“Combined with technical expertise, an open and honest approach, an ambitious ‘it can be done attitude’, with a sophisticated logistics and production facility, this offer has aided the creation of many award-winning and groundbreaking schemes across the UK, and a respect in the wonderful placemaking led industry.”

hardscape.co.uk

Donatoni Macchine, the Italian machine maker best known for its Jet bridge saws, is to be represented in the UK and Ireland from 1 September by a new company called Stone Automation Ltd, set up by Salvatore Caruso (of Classico Marble and Italian Luxury Surfaces in Langley, Berkshire).

Donatoni saws have been sold by CNC workcentre company Intermac since the two formed an alliance just ahead of the Marmo+Mac stone exhibition in Verona in 2015. The Intermac distributorship ends on 25 August.

With more than 50 years’ experience in stone processing equipment and machinery, Donatoni is a major manufacturer of technologies for processing natural stone, quartz and sintered materials, with more than 2,000 machines installed worldwide. The company has a continual investment programme for the development of solutions that contribute to constant control over the manufacturing processes.

Salvatore Caruso has worked in the stone industry for more than 30 years and has purchased four Donatoni Jet625 CNC saws for his own businesses.

He says his high opinion and working knowledge of Donatoni saws, as well as his existing UK distributorship of stone tooling by Wodiam, meant he was a natural candidate for the Donatoni UK and Ireland distributorship.

Salvatore set up Stone Automation Ltd to facilitate his stone technology distributorships that will come together in this business.

He is currently recruiting engineers, customer service and salespeople specifically to support existing and new Donatoni customers across the UK and Ireland in preparation for the 1 September takeover of the distribution of the Donatoni machines.

While Stone Automation prepares for the launch date, Donatoni’s immediate focus is the service structure and fast delivery of spare parts across the UK and Ireland.

Stone Automation and Donatoni say they place a strong emphasis on ensuring continuity and strengthening Donatoni’s after-sales support for existing customers, as well as giving assistance to new customers who will choose Donatoni in the years ahead.

Salvatore says of the deal: “I am delighted to be working with Donatoni as their new distributor for the UK and Ireland. Our experience of the company and their stone processing machines over the last 20 years has been second to none and I am looking forward to supporting existing and new Donatoni customers in the region.”

He says he is going to make Donatoni “number one for for service” because, as a fabricator himself, he knows waiting three hours for a call back when there’s a problem hurts.

Luca Donatoni says: “The search for a new partner for the distribution of our products in the UK and Ireland had to represent something new in the market. For this reason, our research was aimed at an interlocutor who understood stone fabrication well and who was aware of the importance of after-sales service – two fundamental elements to be able to support old and new customers – someone who spoke the same language.

“Our choice of Salvatore Caruso, owner of Classico Marble, former Donatoni customer, who is already involved in the distribution of other items, seemed to us the most correct choice. We are happy and very confident for the future.”

Intermac and its parent, Biesse, say they have no comment to make at this time.

Leading quartz company Caesarstone has released its first porcelain collection in the UK.

While quartz remains the most popular and still growing hard surface for kitchens, porcelains have been growing rapidly, so it did not come as a surprise when Caesarstone previewed a porcelain range at the KBB exhibition in the NEC, Birmingham, at the beginning of March. Now it is launching more than 20 porcelain surfaces this month (July).

The porcelain range will use the same Caesarstone name as the quartz, with the aim of strengthening the brand’s reputation as a leading provider of premium worktops.

Caesarstone Porcelain arrives after what the company describes as an intensive two-year design and R&D programme, in which the brand focused more than three decades of stone surfaces experience in the creation of an inaugural suite of porcelain surfaces.

Caesarstone says the porcelain range offers rich colours, bold designs, large patterns and “wonderful tangible textures”.

The porcelains have been aligned with existing Caesarstone collections: the Metropolitan Collection, with designs that celebrate an industrial aesthetic; The Supernatural Collection, inspired by nature; and The Classico Collection of shades that provide a foundation for interiors.

Mor Krisher, Caesarstone’s Chief Designer, explains what he and his team wanted to achieve with the porcelains. “We took stone back to its roots – to a raw, warm, earthy place – employing a range of colours, from delicate tones and pastels to warm shades in bold and dramatic patterns. Our goal was to emphasise stone’s materiality rather than attempt to flatten it, to pull out the texture. The feeling should be natural above all.”

Porcelain surfaces are sometimes described as ceramic, sintered, compact or ultra-compact materials. They blend ceramic clays, other natural materials and mineral colourings by compressing them (sintering) and then firing them. The design is printed on the surface before the slab is fired – and developments in printing technology over the years have helped increase porcelain’s popularity.

Quartz surfaces, sometimes described as engineered stone, are a blend of quartz minerals and other materials and colour pigments in resin polymers. These are then moulded, compressed, and heated to form the slab.

The final look and technical performance of either porcelain or quartz surfaces is reliant on the quality of the raw materials, as well as the expertise and capabilities employed in crafting them. Caesarstone considers both make ideal kitchen worktop surfaces when, like its products, they are manufactured to the highest standards using best quality ingredients. It offers a (not entirely unconditional) lifetime warranty on its products.

Caesarstone’s Porcelain collection includes:

• 501 Snowdrift – white with delicate golden-brown veins on a misty base.
• 503 Circa – a white base with bold, light grey veins outlined in heavier dark greys, reflecting Statuario marble.
• 504 Lumena – a white pearl base with veins in several greys that crisscross the slab. Translucent variations in the surface provide depth and dimension.
• 413 White Ciment – a whitewashed surface covered with a hazy imprint of a subtle mesh. It has an Ultra Rough finish creating an interplay with the soft colour.
• 511 Smokestone – with white lines across a ‘midnight’ body, again with a tactile Ultra Rough finish.
• 302 Metallio Black – inspired by the transformation of ores such as lead and iron.

Megan Jones has become the sixth generation of her family to work in the family stonemasonry company of AF Jones, run by her father, Angus Jones.

She has joined the company following the opening of a long-awaited new gallery at the company's main works at Ipsden, Oxfordshire.

The company was originally based in Reading and still has offices in its premises there, but production has moved to Ipsden.

The site address at Ipsden is, appropriately, the Old Quarry Works, but before AF Jones bought it it had been a fuel filling station and garage. It is next to the main road and a showroom was always part of the company's ambition. Megan has helped make it a reality.

With a background in fast moving consumer goods with snack company KP (famous for Hula Hoops and peanuts, among many other products), she has seen projects through from conception to presentation in stores. She says the experience has given her a lot of skills that are transferrable to the family business.

She grew up surrounded by the stone business and is familiar with it, but says her parents wanted her to gain experience away from that business to develop her own perspective. Hence, after studying for a business degree in Bath she joined KP and worked there for three years.

But when her family company wanted a new business manager to drive the company forward she felt she had the skills to contribute to its development and was given the job. "We are making products here that will outlast a human lifetime. We're creating legacies. That was a key factor why I wanted to work here," says Megan.

The showroom is about increasing the company's presence in interiors – and it has more plans to expand in that market. Megan says: "We have traditionally focused on architectural work but two-thirds of the stone market is interiors." She also wants to make sustainability a key focus of the business. "It was already part of the agenda here, but it's central now. It's important to our clients and they're our partners to success. They want sustainability and achieving net zero is important to us."

There will be more from Megan and Angus Jones about their plans for the family company in a future edition of Natural Stone Specialist magazine. Make sure you get your copy by subscribing here.

afjones.co.uk

The NAMM Tradex memorial masonry exhibition is back live at the Warwickshire Exhibition Centre just outside Leamington Spa this year on its new dates of 15-16 September. 

Supported by many of the major memorial wholesalers and suppliers of equipment and accessories for memorial masons, the National Association of Memorial Masons' exhibition offers memorial masons the opportunity to view new products, materials, machinery, and services.

NAMM Executive Officer Peter Hayman says: "Tradex should be well attended this year. We've had some good feedback from exhibitors and masons generally. I think many have missed opportunities to get out and about over the last couple of years with a lot of events cancelled or rolled over. Pre-booking will make entrance a smoother operation, as it means just ticking off their name and giving them a visitor name badge. Those who pre-book will also get a gift pack containing a few useful items and a food voucher."

To book, call 01788 542264 or email admin@namm.org.uk.

At the seminar that goes along with the exhibition, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is giving a talk 11.45am to 12.45pm on each day detailing its contract procurement procedure. The Blast Shop is giving a talk at 11.00am both days with advice on avoiding injuries from manual handling. The talks are classed as CPD and a certificate will be provided for those who want it.

NAMM is providing a function room for a wholesalers' meeting that will take place at 11am on the Friday.

Once again, the exhibition will feature the work of memorial masons in the Craftex competition, which always includes oustanding memorial decorative work demonstrating the skills of lettercutters, etchers, sculptors, engravers, and others working with natural stone.

Craftex entries will be on display throughout the exhibition. They will be judged and awards will be presented at 3.00pm on the Friday.

Tradex is open to everyone working in or associated with the memorial industry, either directly or indirectly.

As Peter says: "Let’s hope the weather is kind, there is enough fuel (and water), there are no Covid restrictions and WWIII hasn’t kicked off. It's about time we all got together and enjoyed ourselves and worked as a family for everyone’s benefit."

www.namm.org.uk

York Minster plans to develop and extend its craft skills training facilities by creating a world class campus for research, education and training in craft skills.

York Minster is one of England’s 10 cathedrals with their own stonemasonry department. The 10 cathedrals work together on training through the organisation they have established called the Cathedral Workshops Fellowship, although its foundation degree course is now also open to masons (and other heritage craftspeople) working outside of the cathedral network.

Now, York Minster plans to develop and extend its craft skills training facilities by creating a world class campus for research, education and training in craft skills on the Minster’s 15-acre site.

This Centre of Excellence for Heritage Craft Skills & Estate Management came a step closer following a community referendum of residents in the Minster Precinct Neighbourhood Area, which showed a majority in favour of the Minster’s proposed £5million, fully funded project that is being co-ordinated by the York Minster Fund.

As well as the training centre, the project includes new visitor facilities, a new public square, enhanced public realm and green spaces, and a discovery and learning centre and museum.

Following the referendum, the Minster’s neighbourhood plan is being adopted by City of York Council as part of the statutory development plan for the city, and a planning application has been submitted for the work in the Minster Precinct to progress. A decision is expected before the end of the summer and, if consented, the work is expected to be completed in 2024.

The scheme, designed by the architectural practice Tonkin Liu, will provide new facilities for craftspeople, including York Minster’s stonemasons, and house and deliver training in modern techniques and processes to apprentices and students in York and further afield, working with cutting edge digital facilities alongside the ancient craft skills for which the Minster’s stoneyard is renowned.

Existing buildings within the Precinct will be re-ordered, re-purposed and renewed to provide new workspaces and associated facilities, enable greater engagement and interaction with the public around key crafts and trades, and facilitate improved links with education. The Centre of Excellence for Heritage Craft Skills & Estate Management will bring benefits including continuing the craft of stonemasonry and encouraging global learning and knowledge sharing, as well as being a shining example of best practice in managing complex heritage estates.

The vision for the Centre of Excellence is a key element of a plan that sets out a policy-led approach to creating a sustainable future for the Minster and its estate.