Members of the Natural Stone Industry Training Group (NSITG) visited Bath College’s Stone Masonry Department on 30 March. The group, including representatives from Welsh Government’s Cadw, Stone Federation Great Britain, Brunel University and the Building Crafts College, met Bath College tutors and heard about new courses being developed to enhance the Stone Masonry Trailblazer apprenticeship courses.

Facilities at Bath for stonemasonry are now housed at the Somer Valley Campus, at Radstock, that were purpose built for the masonry and carpentry departments.

Training suites include workshop banker environments and outdoor areas to simulate site experiences.

Students working on the bankers during the visit were local young women drawn to the masonry course because of its diverse routes of career options. They said they were particularly interested in the detail of the banker work and lettercutting.

Student work seen by the NSITG group included examples of drawings and initial stages of developing form and texture using clay for practice and development.

The new Stone Masonry Trailblazer Apprenticeship offers a core of mandatory units, including health & safety. Students then have to choose an optional route from: Banker, Exterior Mason, Interior Mason, Façade Preservation, Heritage Mason or Memorial Mason.

Bath are in the process of developing courses to offer more of the routes, but currently have banker, interior and external fixer only.

Heritage will be added at the start of the new term in September, with a view to adding memorial mason in due course.

All routes attract Government and CITB grant aide for employers.

Bath has recently recruited new lecturers from the stone community to work with students as it aims to maintain the standards that last year saw two of the college’s students win Gold and Silver in stonemasonry at SkillBuild, the multi-trade skills competition for construction trainees and apprentices. Gold was won by Lewis Evans and Silver by Kane Frith. They were both Level 3 stonemasonry students.

New developments at the college include short courses for both BIM (building information modelling) and CAD (computer-aided design) that are being added to the Apprenticeship offer, along with a new suite of sustainability options ahead of them becoming a mandatory part of the Trailblazer delivery.

This was the NSITG’s first face-to-face visit since the Covid restrictions began and members appreciated the opportunity to discuss best practice and share ideas over lunch.

Next NSITG plans to visit the Building Crafts College in London, which is another of the colleges delivering the new Trailblazer apprenticeships.

www.nsitg.org.uk

Robert Merry has spent a busy time keeping up with an ERUPTION!! of activities in the stone industry.

What a month that was! Stone is only the half of it. This town has been quiet for two years and now there’s been a ERUPTION!!! (Bob Hoskins – The Long Good Friday – great film, great moment). All of a sudden, stone coming out of my ears! That doesn’t sound right… but its spring and we can mix up our metaphors, can't we?

First the Stone Masons’ National Occupational Standards (NOS) review with the CITB. A sober affair but for the betterment of all.

Then, the Stone Federation did us chest out, strut down the road, “away the lads (and lasses)” proud at Surface Design with, in association with architect Squire & Partner, a beautifully conceived display of stone. The accompanying blurb and section on re-purposing a broken stone object was inspiring. Well done all involved.

Next up, The Case For Stone. A Stone Federation-led discussion, primarily about stone as a load bearing structural element as used at 15 Clerkenwell Close.

Hosted by Ulrike Knox of Knox architects (cathedral architect and Natural Stone Awards Judge) with Amin Taha of Group Works, Steve Webb of Webb Yates and Zac Tudor of Arup. Taha and Web had collaborated on 15 Clerkenwell Close, with its exoskeleton of French limestone. Their opinions have ruffled some British quarry feathers, although that may be a good thing in the long term. I think the tradition of using stone as a load bearing element has receded in the UK, so perhaps we can all work together to change this. Chicken and egg, I guess – to continue the poultry metaphor.

Then Stone Digital, organised by the company behind the Natural Stone Show & Hard Surfaces exhibitions and this very magazine. A two day bonanza on how the stone industry is rising to the challenge of net carbon zero and where the stone world has travelled in terms of digitalisation.

I watched excellent contributions from Albion Stone and PAYE, as well as Vetter, Historic England, Green Thinking, Simpson Brown Architects and more. If you missed it, you can watch all or any of the sessions on catch-up until the end of April on the same platform as it was originally shown on, which you can find at bit.ly/SD-on-demand.

Interestingly, as I toiled with the introduction of carbon saving machinery and methods of work, looked at digital management packages and fast tracked design solutions, increased productivity through off-site manufacture and the introduction of site robots, the stone sat there, relatively inert, looking beautiful, as always, waiting for us all to finish. Its glory undiminished by what we are trying to do with it. As ever.

Moving swiftly on, there followed a meeting of the Stone Federation Technical Committee, of which I’m a member. A goodly debate about education and skills in the sector, an aging workforce and diminishing opportunity for apprenticeships.

Of course, we discussed standards and technical stuff, too. But the education debate interested me. The Stone Masons’ NOS review, which started at the beginning of February and continued into March, reviewed 12 standards for stone people.

They cover internal/external fixing, memorials, heritage, cladding and cutting. They provide a framework that can be used in several ways: for awarding bodies to create qualifications to train individuals (for instance, in an apprenticeship framework); for employers to create job descriptions and train staff; and for individuals looking to match their skills to a trade. They underpin college courses and should be used by the industry to employ staff and train new skills. I think the framework is there, we just need to learn to use the resource we have.

The icing on my particular stone cake was the Stone Federation Interiors focus group meeting. Chaired by the recently anointed ‘el Presidente’ of the Stone Federation, Chris Kelsey – an excellent appointment, if I may say so.

There are lots of exciting developments for the Interiors group, including the soon to be published wet rooms guide, development of BS 8298 for internal use of stone cladding, and a drive to promote the use of stone in interiors.

‘When does this bloke ever find time to get any work done,’ I hear you ask. I know! As I said, it’s been a busy month.

Just going to relax in March with a trip to Future Build at Excel. I don’t think I’ll have the energy to visit KBB in Birmingham.

How about you? How’s the icing on your stone cake this spring?

www.stoneconsultants.co.uk

Bakers of Danbury, already well known in the heritage sector for the carving and stone cleaning skills of its stonemasons, as well as its wider conservation work, has created a new 18-month, externally accredited site-based Heritage Building Crafts training programme – a one of a kind.

Established more than 140 years ago, Bakers of Danbury is well established for conservation and repairs to period properties, churches and ancient monuments, including landmarks such as Westminster Abbey and St Pauls Cathedral in Lon-don.

Bakers’ has always prided itself on the training it offers, with one person who joined the company as an apprentice 35 years ago still working for the company. Many of the company’s directly employed tradespeople have been with the company for more than 20 years.

With the construction industry in general facing skills shortages, it is as important as ever that companies like Bakers, with highly skilled, directly employed staff, should pass on the knowledge of traditional construction methods to future generations, just as it has since it was founded in 1878.

Traditional methods and skills are normally conveyed through mentorship and apprenticeships within the company. With this in mind, Bakers has teamed up with the training provider Priestman Associates LLP (one of whose Directors, Mark Priestman, writes the Training column in this magazine) to develop a bespoke Heritage Building training programme – which is unique to Bakers of Danbury.

The Heritage Building Training programme will include an NVQ Level 2 in stone-masonry preservation skills, with learning and assessment based on site. There is a programme of accredited heritage building modules covering lime plastering, carpentry repairs and other skills necessary to carry out conservation and repair works to churches and ancient monuments.

On successful completion of the accredited training programme, the trainees will become qualified Heritage Building Craftsmen, with a stonemasonry NVQ Level 2 qualification and externally accredited Heritage Building Crafts training.

Trainees will benefit from a varied and valuable skill set and will continue to work on many interesting church projects, with the opportunity for subsequent training and internal promotion with Bakers of Danbury Ltd.

Peter Smyth, Managing Director of Bakers, says: “We’re proud to be actively help-ing to reduce the skills shortage within the construction industry, in particular the heritage sector, by creating two new places for Trainee Heritage Building Craftsmen, within our Church Works department.

“As there isn’t an NVQ 2 available in building heritage or conservation, our unique training programme will offer new entrants into the industry the opportunity to learn skills and benefit from training they are unlike to gain anywhere else.”

Having recently recruited one Trainee for the programme, Bakers is currently looking to fill its second vacancy. If you would like to register your interest, email info@bakersofdanbury.co.uk.

Pooil Vaaish, a dark, dense limestone from the Isle of Man is to be exported to America.

The stone from the Pooil Vaaish quarry on the Scarlett peninsula is to join the portfolio of natural stone that Burlington, the Cumbrian stone company, sells in the USA. Burlington is one of the few quarrying companies in the UK that consistently markets its stones abroad.

In a reciprocal arrangement, Pooil Vaaish becomes the sole agent for Burlington's stones, including roofing slates from Cumbria, on the Isle of Man.

The deal was reported on 14 March on the Isle of Man Today website. The report says samples of the stone have met with much interest by the American stone industry and architects in both New York and Texas. Apparently the stone is already being presented to clients.

Pooil Vaaish Managing Director Rosie Glassey is reported as saying: "I’m delighted that one of our island’s beautiful natural resources is beginning to gain great recognition internationally.

"It has long been used in palaces, cathedrals and stately homes in the UK, and we’re now excited about this expansion across the Atlantic. The international appeal of the stone really is huge."

First quarried more than 400 years ago, Pooil Vaaish stone can now be seen alongside Burlington's stone at the Pooil Vaaish showroom in Castletown on the Isle of Man and at its factory in Ballasalla.

Below: The Monument in London, where the viewing platform is Pooil Vaaish sitting on top of a column of Portland limestone.

https://pooilvaaish.com/

https://burlingtonstone.co.uk/