Stone Federation Great Britain is making 'The Case for Stone' in the first of a series of webinars from 3.30pm on 17 February. 

The Case for Stone events will be part of the Federation’s efforts to raise awareness of natural stone and its credentials for sustainability.

This ongoing online conversation will explore how natural stone can help deliver a more sustainably built environment.

This first conversation will be hosted by Ulrike Knox, founder of Knox McConnell Architects, one of the judges of Stone Federation’s Natural Stone Awards.

Speakers are Amin Taha, of Groupwork, and Steve Webb, of Webb Yates Engineers, who worked together on 15 Clerkenwell Close, where they demonstrated that using natural stone can reduce a building’s whole life carbon impact. The project was shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize last year.

They will be joined by Zac Tudor of Arup, who, in a previous role as principal landscape architect for Sheffield City Council, delivered a number of natural stone projects in the city. He is a key proponent of the use of stone for sustainable city landscapes.

The webinars are free, but you have to register - go to bit.ly/CFStone22.

Grade I listed Exeter Cathedral is planning on recreating a cloister gallery demolished nearly 400 years ago and is looking for a heritage company to carry out the work. 

It was given planning permission for the project just before Christmas and is now inviting submissions before 17 February from heritage masonry companies that would like to be considered for the project to create a new covered cloister that will be used as a gallery and event space.

The aim is to shortlist no more than six companies that will be invited to tender. If you are interested, email Exeter Cathedral Architect Camilla Finlay, a Partner of Acanthus Clews, in Banbury, Oxfordshire, on camilla@acanthusclews.co.uk.

Work, largely funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, is due to start in July and is expected to take about a year, with the £2.3million project also including a toilet extension to a 19^th century library building designed by John Loughborough Pearson, a Victorian Gothic revivalist.

The aim is to make it easier to use the Cloister to the south of the Cathedral that contains the Chapter House, Chapel of the Holy Ghost, the Pearson Library, and the WCs.

Using this area is currently awkward because the 13^th century gallery that originally connected the Chapter House, which has a particularly attractive ceiling, to the Norman Cathedral through the 12^th century Bishop Brewer doorway was demolished during the Civil War in the 17^th century.

The proposal is to re-establish the link and extend it to the Pearson Library.

The original medieval stonework is Salcombe sandstone from East Devon quarries that have long since closed. Acanthus Clews staff are currently looking for stones they can use to match the original.