With less than a week to go before the Stone & Surface Show opens its doors, the final installment of what to expect from the event programme has just dropped - and it continues to tantalise!

Taking place at ExCeL London from 12–14 May, the exhibition will focus on innovative applications of stone and surface materials with a programme of talks examining how technology is reshaping specification, fabrication and construction practices across the sector running alongside it across all three days.

A key installation at the show is Arch Revival, a pair of freestanding vaulted hyperbolic arches standing four metres tall and constructed from a single layer of stone bricks. Designed by Hawkins\Brown with engineering support from Webb Yates Engineers, the arches use sandstone bricks supplied by Hutton Stone and Portland stone bricks from Albion Stone.

The project makes use of previously ‘unloved stone’, which is material rejected for aesthetic reasons because of geological variation, to demonstrate stone’s potential as a load-bearing, low-carbon construction material. According to the project team, the structure embodies 66% less carbon than an equivalent construction built using clay-fired bricks.

The sustainability theme continues in the Architects’ Theatre, where Toby Pear of Article 25 will present Building with Laterite Stone – Low-Carbon, Affordable, Beautiful. The talk examines the Collège Hampaté Bá project in Niger, where locally sourced laterite stone has been used to construct classroom buildings as an alternative to cement block construction.

Digital tools and material reuse will be explored on the Main Stage during Upcycling Stone Through Technology, featuring architect Levent Ozruh alongside Robert Greer of Paye Stonework and Restoration and Salvatore Caruso of Stone Automation. The session will examine how laser scanning, radar technology and digital twins can support reuse of stone in retrofit and heritage projects.

Ozruh will also present ANTI-RUIN, developed with Pietro Odaglia at ETH Zurich, which uses digital printing techniques to create new stone composites from waste material. A film documenting the making of the installation — filmed at Lasa Marmo Quarry, Digital Building Technologies at ETH Zurich and the Arsenale during the Venice Biennale — will be screened in the Surfaces Cinema.

While in the Architects’ Theatre, Studio Bark will discuss Building, Unbuilding, and the Carbon Balance, a session outlining how its U-Build system enables modular, bio-based workspaces designed for relocation and reuse.

Artificial intelligence and its implications for architecture and design inevitably form a significant part of this year’s programme. Design journalist Riya Patel will chair the panel AI in A&D – Friend or Foe?, featuring Anna Burles of Run For The Hills, Professor Oliver Wilton of The Bartlett School of Architecture, and architect and digital creator Agata Murasko. The discussion will explore AI’s potential to improve workflows, expand creative processes and influence material specification, while also addressing concerns around intellectual property, authorship and employment. Murasko will also present Can AI be a design process ally? at the Architects’ Theatre.

Further sessions include Ron Zaum of Structured AI demonstrating AI compliance reviews using Amin Taha’s Finchley Road project as a case study, and Ryan Canning of ARCHITEXTURES discussing digital material libraries and specification workflows.

Alongside technological change, the programme also considers workforce challenges facing the built environment. The panel How can we fix the looming skills gap? will include Aisha Lysejko of 2040 Leaders, Jamie Coath of Purcell and stonemason Emily Guest, examining recruitment, training and diversity within construction trades.

Sam Patel, Divisional Director of the Built Environment Super Event, which combines the Stone & Surfaces Show with UK Construction Week London and FutureBuild, said the exhibition aims to highlight how innovation, sustainability and digital technologies are transforming stone and surface materials across the supply chain.

The co-located events will give visitors access to all three exhibitions within ExCeL London.

Register for the Stone & Surfaces Show for free here