Northern Precision is back at the Natural Stone Show this year hoping to repeat the success it had at the exhibition in 2019.

Northern Precision is the supplier of specialist fastenings, and one of the products it was showing at the Stone Show last time was Italian company Specialinsert’s Keep-Nut.

It turned out to be just what Wandsworth Council and its lighting contractor, Armadillo Lighting based in Essex, had been looking for to fix new low energy LED downlighting on the sides and under the arches of London’s Putney Bridge.

The bridge is built from Cornish granite, which helps explain how it has survived so well.

It was designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette and opened in 1886. Today, it is a Listed ancient monument, which means any interventions need to be kept to a minimum.

The Keep-Nut from Northern Precision was ideal. It comes in a number of sizes but requires a hole of just 8-10mm deep. It is made of stainless steel and is simply hammered into the hole. An M6 machine screw only goes into the Keep-Nut 6mm to securely fasten whatever is being attached to it.

Each Keep-Nut is said to be able to resist a pullout force of 280kg. To demonstrate the strength of the Keep-Nut at the Stone Show at ExCeL London in 2019, Northern Precision had a 200kg piece of marble hanging from a single fixing.

Wandsworth Council and its lighting contractors satisfied themselves that the Keep-Nuts would work just as well in the Cornish granite of Putney Bridge by putting one into a piece of the same granite and lifting three men from it at the same time.

It had been expected to take a week to fix the lighting on Putney Bridge but using the Keep-Nut meant the job was finished in three days.

Keep-Nut is just one of the specialist fastenings sold by Northern Precision. At this year’s Stone Show it will be introducing a new fastener, called Fast-Con, from the Italians. It is a two part concealed, quick assembly snap on / pull off fastening.

Made from stainless steel, it is practically indestructible and allows panels and coverings to be quickly snapped into place. There are no edge fixings, so panels can abut perfectly. If a panel is in front of pipes or electrical units, it can be removed without having to re-tile the whole wall. The release force is 7-10kg, depending on which Fast-Con is used. A Fast-Con stainless steel centre-marking device is available to facilitate perfect hole alignment every time.

Steve Smith says Northern Precision is back at the Natural Stone Show this year because it is an event that works for the company. He says: “We have stopped doing a lot of shows and are just concentrating now on those where the quality of visitor makes it worthwhile for us.”

To see the full list of exhibitors at the Natural Stone Show this year visit the website www.stoneshow.co.uk.

“Mark, I’m only a small business and I feel bombarded with emails and newsletters offering me all sorts of help for my business. But I haven’t got time to read everything.  What would be your three top tips regarding skills development?”

That was a question I received just this week. It would seem rude not to reply, so here goes.

Tip No1: Every CITB registered firm has a CITB Advisor allocated to help with guidance about applying for funding and grants for training and qualifications. If your CITB Advisor isn’t routinely popping in, get on to it today.

Tip No2: CITB is good, but it does not always know about specialist sectors in great detail. To bridge this gap, it funded industry training groups. Ours is the Natural Stone Industry Training Group (NSITG). It is made up of committed folk from the natural stone sector. NSITG is often first to hear about available funding. It also helps steer the development of qualifications and training packages – as it did the Trailblazer apprenticeship. At the very least, ensure you are on the NSITG emailing list.

Tip No3: There is strength in association and our sector’s trade association is Stone Federation GB. Membership brings a valuable opportunity to be party to its committee work. You will probably find several of its committees and forums support your business needs and they will aim to keep you abreast of news that can support the growth of your business.

Bonus Tip: Engage. Attend annual meetings, networking events and forums, and all of a sudden you are plugging-in to the dynamic current of this exciting sector of the construction industry.

Bonus Tip No2: Ensure you are measuring the skills requirements of your business. Have job descriptions in place. Conduct appraisals. Highlight gaps in skills, training and qualifications and formulate a plan to fill those gaps.

Bonus Tip No3: Always go with a training provider who doubles the number of tips you asked for (only kidding!). But seriously, this magazine, this column and my business is all about keeping you informed, about Qualifying the Workforce, as we say. If there are any subjects you’d like me to cover, send me a message using the contacts below the picture of me. 

In future columns I will tell you the latest on apprenticeships, the fee-neutral specialist applied-skills programmes (SAPs) for stone fixing, façade preservation and heritage stonemasonry, on-site NVQ assessment for experienced workers, funding and grants, CSCS cards, taster courses, professional body membership, specific skills for new build and conservation and anything topical that comes up.

Below are some subjects you might want to follow up with me.

• Specialist Applied-Skills Programmes (SAPs). These are a training route to NVQs. The programmes are fee-neutral and available in Façade Preservation and Stone Fixing. I’d also like to know if you are interested in a SAP for Heritage Stonemasonry (at NVQ level 3).
• The ending of the industry accreditation* route to CSCS cards means if you want to remain carded you need a qualification, normally an NVQ. Training for these NVQs is available at preferential fee rates for those who hold, or have held, cards through industry accreditation.
• Achieving an NVQ at work is possible through the on-site assessment (OSAT) route. There are OSATs for a wide range of stonemasonry related activities. They also cover supervisory, heritage, contracts and management roles.

*Footnote: Industry accreditation is often termed ‘grandfather rights’. I didn’t realise it, but that term has a negative or offensive connotation in other walks of life, which is why I have stopped using it.

Adam Reuvany is promising something a bit tasty on the stand of stone wholesaler Bloomstones London at the Natural Stone Show this year.

Bloomstones will be introducing the Cooking Surface Prime under-surface induction hobs it is now selling in conjunction with its slabs from the bright, new 1,400m2 headquarters it moved into in the summer last year.

The energy-efficient hobs fit under worksurfaces and heat pots and pans without any indication necessary on the surface that there is a hob there. It is ideal for space-limited London apartments and increasingly popular garden kitchens.

The plan is to have the hobs live under one of the company’s worktops on its stand at the show to demonstrate the effectiveness of these hobs by actually cooking something.

Visitors will be able to try it out for themselves by taking part in a competition to cook an omelette in the quickest time.

Induction hobs work by heating the metal vessels being used for the cooking rather than the surface they are standing on. Of course, the heated vessel also heats the surface, but the surface remains a lot cooler than a traditional hob gets.

Bloomstones’ move into new premises in Dartford has given it an attractive new showroom and office area to welcome customers into as well as a large warehouse where they can see the range of 400 varieties of natural stone, Bloomstones quartz and ABK porcelain from Italy that the company sells.

Just off the M25, the new premises give Bloomstones easy access to the country’s motorway network to make deliveries from Southampton to Leeds without an overnighter.

Bloomstones believes suppliers should be making it easier for customers to choose natural stone and is happy to send slabs to its customers’ showrooms and studios for their customers to approve before buying. If the slabs are not sold, Bloomstones will take them back. “We do really well with quartzite,” says Adam, “because of the high quality of the products we sell.”

Bloomstones is determined to maintain an identity of its own that sets it apart from its competitors, concentrating on supplying products mostly from Italy, India and Brazil, plus some carefully chosen materials from Spain. The products it has in stock can be seen on its website and it promotes what is in stock on social media.

This year Bloomstones has a new member of staff with the appointment of Gary Chipping, previously with Nicobond, who is concentrating on increasing the Bloomstones displays in KBB showrooms, although Bloomstones only sells to fabricators.

To see the full list of exhibitors at the Natural Stone Show this time visit the website  www.stoneshow.co.uk.

Ava Stone is the name under which large format luxury Italian porcelain is being sold by La Fabbrica, part of the fast-growing Italcer Group established in 2014 and already claiming fourth place among the largest porcelain producers.

Andrew Sims, heading the Ava Stone marketing push in the UK, says: “Ava Stone are excited to present our large format offering at the ‘go to’ national event for fabricators and stonemasons – Hard Surfaces 2023. We look forward to meeting with like minded colleagues to present our market leading range of products in the rapidly growing porcelain large slab market.”

Among the products on the stand will be the new Macchia Antica pictured here. It is a porcelain marble-effect worktop from Ava Stone offered in 12 and 20mm thicknesses. It is also available in 6mm thickness for walls and floors. Sizes are 320cm x 160cm, 280cm x 120cm, 120cm x 120cm and 60cm x 120cm.

At Hard Surfaces You will also be able to see the 6mm thick Corten large format collection for cabinets and splashbacks (also shown in the picture) that was recently added to the Ava Stone range.

Italcer’s drive for innovation and excellence does not stop with aesthetics, it also extends to sustainability, which is especially important on commercial projects. Last year the group saw an investment of €10million in improving sustainability pay off when it beat 100 of Italy’s other shortlisted top companies to win the country’s Sustainability Award 2022.

Graziano Verdi, CEO of Italcer Group, says that sustainability and responsible corporate governance is a “cornerstone of our business model and our competitiveness”.

The investment included a new press “to optimise and speed up every production phase with the lowest energy consumption”, says Graziano.

See the full list of exhibitors at Hard Surfaces at www.hardsurfaces.co.uk.

A Bill is making its way through Parliament intended to make it easier for employees to negotiate flexible working arrangements. To find out what that could mean for you, book a free place on the Timewise  webinar on Tuesday 23 May.

The webinar has been organised by the Natural Stone Industry Training Group (NSITG) through its membership of the Construction Leadership Council People & Skills network.

The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill, currently being scrutinised by the House of Lords, is likely to become law because it is supported by all the major political parties. Both Conservative and Labour pledged to expand flexible working rights in their 2019 election manifestos.

The Bill gives employees the right to ask for flexible arrangements as soon as they are engaged by a company (that right does not currently kick in until after 26 weeks).

The Bill also proposes to amend the Employment Rights Act 1996, which includes the right to ask for flexible arrangements, in the following ways:

• removing the requirement for employees to explain in their applications for flexible working what effect they think the arrangements will have on the employer
• allowing employees to make two flexible working requests each year instead of the one currently allowed
• requiring employers to consult with the employee before being allowed to refuse an application
• reducing the deadline for an employer decision on flexible working requests from three months to two months.

If the Bill becomes law it will apply to England, Scotland and Wales but not Northern Ireland, where employment law is devolved.

The webinar about the proposed changes will include contributions from flexible working experts, legal experts, employers who already openly discuss flexible working options when hiring, and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Business & Trade, Kevin Hollinrake MP.

You can register to participate in the webinar here.

Mathematicians have created a 13-sided tile shape that produces a pattern that never repeats.

A shape that produces a non-repeating pattern is known as an einstein (German for 'one stone'), although this shape has been nicknamed 'the hat'.

Mathematicians have been searching for such a shape for decades. It was not even clear if it could exist. But, with the help of a lot of computing power, the shape has been found along with a proof that it is aperiodic, as a not repeating pattern is called. And the shape is a lot simpler than many had supposed it would need to be.

In fact, there have been two proofs, one itself including new maths, which, according to The Times newspaper, has already led to the discovery of another aperiodic shape that is said to look a bit like a turtle. And there could be a whole family of other geometrically linked einstein shapes. 

It is probably only a matter of time before a tile company manufactures tiles in an einstein shape, although laying them is not as straightforward as laying rectangles and, as the pattern does not repeat, any template would need to be as big as the wall or floor being tiled.

If such a tile is ever to be used on a wall or floor, it will certainly test the skills and the patience of the tiler(s) laying it.

Independent stone consultant Robert Merry says if the predicted recession of this year follows the usual patterns of recessions it will be followed by several years of growth. That will mean companies need more people – but where will they come from?

A recession is coming. It has already arrived for some. There were only 1,954 construction projects worth more than £10million at the start of 2023 (source: Chartered Institute of Builders), which is the lowest figure since the pre-pandemic beginning of 2020. There was a huge fall in output across all industries in 2020, of course, due to the country closing down but a surge afterwards, presumably as everyone was catching up.

Recession effects construction differently to other industries. Recovery often takes longer. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show construction output falls more than the GDP of the country and recovers in approximate proportions. So, for instance, analysing the economics of recessions recorded between 2000 and 2009, construction output fell by 19% while GDP dropped by only (only!) 5.9%, measured over five quarters. Conversely, in recovery GDP grew 3.1% while construction grew 15.6% over 11 quarters. A year on the down slope and nearly three years on the up slope, in and out of recession.

There are some precautions we can take to manage the down turn: make sure tenders are accurate and thoroughly assess the risks of the project; Spread the risk where you can – try not to end up working for one client in one sector exclusively; talk to the supply chain to keep everyone updated on your business; openly discuss the risks so you can share information and stay ahead of shortages and slow deliveries.

With the cost of maintaining a factory and the price of energy, a review of your firm’s current productivity and how to improve it could prove invaluable in the months ahead, if you haven’t already done that.

The Construction Products Association (CPA) forecasts a fall in construction output of 4.7% this year. If we apply the logic of the first decade of the 2000s, construction will remain in recession for the rest of this year and start to grow in 2024, continuing on that trajectory for the following three years.

It is unsurprising, therefore, that the Construction Skills Network (CSN) is reporting the industry will need a further 225,000 workers by 2027. I’m not sure where these extra pairs of hands will come from. Perhaps an increase in the retirement age and the encouragement back to work of parents with small children will help, although I think it unlikely in the short term. 

The number of vacancies in construction is almost double the number for the same period in 2020, pre-pandemic. Staff shortages are real and present, and will continue to be an issue for firms in the future. Competition will be fierce when it comes to attracting skilled staff.

Designers and contractors might have to turn to off-site and modular component manufacture, which are less labour intensive, although I’m not sure how many opportunities for this there are in stone.

Off-site bathroom pod fabrication is in the market now, but it’s not used a great deal at the high end. Bespoke dimensional stone and interior stone need to be installed on-site and rarely are they fitted to other components prior to delivery.

Tim Balcon, Chief Executive of CITB, in the introduction to the CSN report, said: “…despite current economic uncertainty, recruiting and developing the workforce remains vital to ensure the industry can contribute to economic growth”.

So try not to lose the staff you have. Invest in improving their skills (Mark Priestman’s comments on the right can help). Give your people plenty of reasons to stay with you. Do you have a diversity, equity and inclusion policy? Are you creating an environment of respect and fairness? If you’re not, others will. We have to move with the times or we will be left behind. Stone might be old, but our industry and the way we manage it can’t be if we are to face the challenges of the years ahead.

London Stone says it is the first hard landscaping product supplier to announce it has become carbon neutral.

It has achieved the status without any price rises, as it says it is fully aware of the need to support its customers during the current cost of living crisis.

London Stone has six showrooms and three partner showrooms across the UK, with three new showrooms opening soon in Bristol, Hampshire and Manchester. It offers free nationwide delivery, exclusive discounts and benefits for trade customers and a state-of-the-art e-commerce platform for quick-and-easy online ordering.

The move to carbon neutrality at London Stone followed COP26 in Scotland in 2021. The London Stone Directors, brothers Steven, Duncan and Gavin Walley, who founded the company 15 years ago, decided not only to commit to reducing their own carbon emissions but to use their influence to pave the way for others in landscaping to follow them.

Managing Director Steven Walley says: “We’d be failing, though, if the carbon neutral commitment was just about us. Feedback from our customers tells us that we’re not alone in wanting to tread more lightly on our planet. They, too, want to commit to tackling our climate crisis but often don’t know how or where to start. We will help with this.

“We will be releasing information on how we can help raise environmental standards for landscapers, designers and other suppliers across the industry and will publish a series of blogs that explain our carbon neutral journey.”

London Stone will be working with several industry peers, personalities and organisations to help encourage more carbon reducing practices. Industry heavyweight and ‘King of Chelsea’, Landform Consultants' Mark Gregory, is London Stone’s first Green Ambassador. Mark is well known, not only for his award-winning gardens like the Savills Garden at Chelsea Flower Show this year, but also as a Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Landscape Ambassador and holder of the RHS Associate Medal of Honour.

Gavin Walley is Fulfilment Director at London Stone. He has headed London Stone’s move to ‘Net Zero’, taking various courses to understand how greenhouse gas emissions are quantified, verified and reported.

London Stone has worked with Carbon Footprint Ltd to achieve carbon neutrality. It has reduced its own carbon emissions but cannot control those from freight and haulage, for example, which it is offsetting by supporting carbon reducing projects in India, where it is already involved in ethical sourcing programmes related to the Indian stone it imports.