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/

To commemorate the 550th anniversary of the Grant of Arms to the Worshipful Company of Masons – one of the oldest of London’s livery companies – the current Master and his wife have presented the Company with a silver statuette called ‘The Stonemason’.

It has been made by well-known silver smith and jeweller Mappin & Webb to a design produced from photographs of one of the Masons Company Yeomen, Tom Nicholls, one of the partners in London Stone Carving, a South London studio of stonecarvers who have already developed a reputation for the quality of their work that is rapidly growing.

It was King Edward IV who granted the Masons Company its arms in 1472 and the statuette to commemorate the 550th anniversary of that was unveiled by the Master, Martin Low, and presented at Lady Day Court on 22 March.

The Deputy Master, Dr Christine Rigden, formally accepted it on behalf of the Company and thanked Martin and his wife, Sue, for their generosity.

The Worshipful Company of Masons is one of the Livery Companies that still supports the trade it was established to oversee in the capital, providing help and guidance to those coming into the stone industry through its charitable trusts, which support training, among other activities. One of those it helped was Tom Nicholls.

The statuette was produced to a detailed specification developed almost a year ago to celebrate the craft of stonemasonry.

A wax model was first produced, from which a cast was made and the statuette produced. The final stage of hallmarking was carried out by the Master Mason himself at Goldsmiths’ Hall, home of another of the Livery Companies of the City of London.

www.masonslivery.org

Memorial wholesaler A&J Robertson (Granite) Ltd based in Aberdeen has appointed Bob Hutcheson as a Non-Executive Director to assist in developing a longer-term strategy for the company.

Bob’s background is accountancy and includes having been Managing Partner of the Aberdeen offices of KPMG. He has a track record of carving out innovative solutions for businesses by getting under the skin of an organisation’s issues to drive change.

Graeme Robertson, who heads the business and suffered a mild stroke last year, says Bob's appointment has a "strong element of succession planning" about it.

Robertson Granite has traded from Aberdeen for almost 150 years and is continuing to look for ways to develop and expand. It already has its own chain of memorial masons and a stake in a crematorium as well as supplying memorials to independent memorial masons and other stonework locally.

www.robertsonmemorials.co.uk

Mustapha Matib has been given a suspended prison sentence, ordered to carry out 200 hours unpaid work and pay costs of £5,673 for supervising unsafe excavation work at a site in Denton, Greater Manchester, where people were working barefoot without any kind of personal protective equipment (PPE).

The work put the people on-site in danger and rendered a neighbouring property unstable, Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard on 21 March.

The court heard how, between 2019 and 2020, Mustapha Matib had employed several groundworkers to excavate land at Gibraltar Lane, Denton, in preparation for the construction of a family home.

An inspection was carried out at the site in August 2020 after neighbours raised significant concerns. Work was stopped when serious fall risks and potential collapse of excavations were identified.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) found that, as principal contractor, Mustapha Matib had failed to prepare a construction phase plan, with risk assessments and method statements detailing how the work would be safely carried out, had failed to appoint a site manager with suitable skills, knowledge and experience to plan, manage and monitor the work, and had failed to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of those carrying out the work or others who may have been affected by their actions.

Inspectors also said a large, deep and unprotected excavation gave rise to the foreseeable risk of a fall. The excavations were not shored up or in any other way suitably battered back to prevent the sides collapsing.

Personal protective equipment had not been provided and some workers were working barefoot on site.

The site had not even been adequately secured to prevent unauthorised persons from entering.

A neighbouring property had been undermined, leaving parts of it at risk of collapse as a result of the excavations.

Mustapha Matib of Allerton Road, Bradford, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work (etc) Act 1974. He was sentenced to 16 weeks imprisonment suspended for 12 months along with being ordered to carry out 200 hours unpaid work and pay costs of £5,673.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Phil Redman said: “Inspectors will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against duty-holders who fall below the required standards and put lives at risk.”

A memorial said to be constructed of 37-tonnes of Carrara marble hand-carved in Italy at a cost of £200,000 is gaining as much publicity as the boxer it commemorates achieved during his career.