The Natural Stone Show will be back at ExCeL, London\'s £250million purpose-designed exhibition venue, on its usual two-yearly schedule in 2004, 9-11 March.

By common consent of both exhibitors and visitors, this year\'s exhibition was the best yet. It was 15% larger than the previous Stone Show at Wembley and attracted slightly more visitors, around 4,500, including 25% more architects and designers.

The bright, comfortable conditions of ExCeL in the fastest growing area of London, overlooked by the country\'s tallest building, the prestigious One Canada Square, added to the kudos of the companies showing their products. Stone is, after all, the finest of building materials.

The proximity of City Airport, just a 10-minute taxi ride away, made a visit by Scottish, Irish and foreign visitors easy. The underground and Dockland Light Railway trains delivered visitors using public transport from central London practically to the door and there was plenty of car parking for those who drove.

The use of natural stone on the floors and pavements of the exhibition centre itself only serves to emphasise the growth in the use of stone products inside, outside and for the hard landscaping of major projects in the UK during recent years.

The architect responsible for ExCeL, Mike Moxley of Moxley Architects, was at the Stone Show to talk about his work and Sir William McAlpine, from the main contractors for ExCeL, Robert McAlpine Group, opened the show.

Exhibitors were delighted with the venue. Michael Poultney, of Albion Stone, said he had been surprised how many contacts he had made with architects he had not previously known and Richard Chandler of machinery company Combined Masonry Supplies said: "ExCeL excelled!"

Chandler said he took nine confirmed-with-deposit orders for Kolb saws and sold four of the smaller Tiger saws from the Show.

"To put this into perspective, we nearly accepted a silly offer on our show Kolb before the event to ensure it had a home post event. Glad we didn\'t!"

The main complaint of exhibitors related to delays in getting into the hall for set-up and break-down. This has been addressed by the organisers and ExCeL promise arrangements in 2004 will produce considerable improvements.

Bookings are now being taken for the Natural Stone Show 2004. To make sure you get the position you want, call Margaret Beaman, sales manager.