With Stone Federation’s 2020 Natural Stone Awards presentation ceremony having to be an online event because of the Covid pandemic lockdowns, there was a heightened sense of anticipation about this year’s Awards presentation ceremony as it returned to London’s Leonardo Royal Tower Bridge Hotel on Friday (2 December), again attracting a capacity audience of 360.

You can see all the projects honoured in the Awards Souvenir Brochure that you can view and download at the bottom of this page.

Guest presenter of the Awards this time was architect and television presenter Charlie Luxton, pictured below at the Awards ceremony.

Charlie is a champion of the environment and communicates his enthusiasm for sustainable architecture and eco-friendly design on his television appearances, which began after he had achieved a first-class honours degree in Architecture at Oxford Brookes University and an MA at the Royal College of Art in London. His first television appearance saw him present Modern British Architects for Channel 5.

He has gone on to present Britain’s Hidden Heritage (BBC 1), Restored to Glory and Rebuilding The Past (BBC 2), Homes and Property (ITV), Supercommuters and World’s Weirdest Homes (Channel 4) and Build A New Life In The Country (Channel 5), although he also runs a 12-person architectural practice, which he said is harder than the TV appearances because “building is hard”.

Sometimes, said Charlie at the Awards ceremony, building seemed hard enough on its own without adding to its complexity by worrying about the environment, but Charlie said if we do not worry about the environment we are in danger of destroying our planetary life support systems – and, he said, life does frequently seem to cause its own demise.

“We are very poor at seeing the value of the big things,” he said. He told those at the Awards ceremony that buildings are at the heart of the climate challenge and “you lot are at the front of the spear on this one; your actions really count”.

He said Architects Journal had called for an honest discussion about the carbon footprints of materials we use in construction. Stone clearly had to be part of that discussion and Charlie spoke about how its use could reduce the embodied carbon content of construction, citing various studies and Amin Taha’s development at 15 Clerkenwell Close (you can read more about that and low carbon stone here).

“The most sustainable building is one that already exists,” said Charlie as he called on the government to remove the VAT penalty of renovation. Although the construction industry does recycle, he said it was often more accurately described as downcycling, with materials losing value in subsequent applications because they tended to be crushed or burnt.

From an architect’s point of view, he said it was important to design buildings with a view to how they would come apart at the end of their lives, so materials can be re-used in their existing forms without having to go through energy intensive transformations. He took the example of domestic glass recycling, asking why glass is crushed, heated and reformed when the jars and bottles could simply be re-used.

The looming recession was not going to make it easier to tackle climate change. “It’s going to be tough,” said Charlie, although a massive revolution was taking place in how buildings are designed and constructed. Everyone had to understand the role they can play in that revolution. “Crucially, we need to act,” he said.

Charlie shared the stage with Stone Awards stalwart sports presenter Jim Rosenthal. Usually the unseen Alan Dedicoat shares the presentation announcements with him, but (as Jim said) Alan had failed a late fitness test and the behind the scenes voice describing the winning projects this year was that of Steve Madden, another of the BBC ‘voices’.

Jim Rosenthal is, of course, a seasoned presenter and did an excellent job of hosting the 2020 Natural Stone Awards online. In fact, Stone Federation took some of what it had learned from going online last time forward to the latest presentation. But nothing beats a live event and the industry was glad to play host to its clients, customers and colleagues at the presentation lunch, which is always a highlight of the stone industry calendar.

The Awards provide an opportunity for the professionals involved with the natural stone sector to join in the celebration of exemplary projects and the teams behind them.

You can see all the people and projects that won the Awards, or were Highly Commended or Commended, in the latest issue of Natural Stone Specialist magazine, in the centre of which are the winning projects in the Awards souvenir brochure. They are also available to download here and below.

The judges this year were: John Burton, Paul Gibson, Graham Lee, Ulrike Knox, Ingval Maxwell, Dr Vanessa Brady, Clara Willett, Adam White and Zac Tudor. The technical advisors were: Sean Collins, David Richardson and Dr Tim Yates.

An overall winner of the projects featured in this year’s Natural Stone Awards will be chosen in a ‘people’s choice’ vote that will take place between now and the Natural Stone Show, which returns to ExCeL London 6-8 June 2023. The winner will be announced during the exhibition.

The 2022 Natural Stone Awards enjoyed the support and sponsorship of a number of well-respected trade bodies and industry firms including Hardscape, Historic England, Marshalls, Sandberg, SBID, Schluter-Systems, Welsh Slate, Natural Stone Specialist magazine and the Natural Stone Show.

A message from Jane Buxey, Chief Executive of Stone Federation

The Natural Stone Awards are an excellent opportunity to celebrate the very best that the natural stone industry has to offer, and this year is no exception.

The Judges were impressed to see that the industry appears as strong as ever despite the adversity it has gone through. The project entries came from all parts of the UK and showcased excellent uses of natural stone across the different sectors of the industry.

The Awards Judges, a mix of renowned architects and stone industry professionals, were joined this year by four guest Judges, all experts within their respective fields who helped create an even stronger panel.

The Judges were pleased to see that, in most entries, alongside an innovative design approach and creative use of the material was a good demonstration of the fundamentals of best practice. They also noted the increased awareness of inclusivity and accessibility in designs.

However, there were, unfortunately, still projects where correct stone selection and basic design principles had not been followed, resulting in potentially impressive projects missing the mark.

The number of projects featuring a mixture of traditional stonemasonry and CNC machinery is a good example of the intelligent approach taken by the sector in embracing innovation while maintaining the skills that form the bedrock of this industry.

As specifiers become increasingly aware that a ‘business as usual’ approach to the carbon impacts of construction is no longer an option, there is a fresh drive to consider and reduce the whole-life carbon impact of a building, either through retrofitting or using a lower carbon material such as natural stone.

It has been encouraging to see the number of projects utilising the UK’s indigenous stones, which sits alongside the ongoing efforts by bodies such as Historic England to see our historic, smaller quarries given the support required to extract these historically significant materials for use in modern day restoration.

I would like to congratulate all those involved with successful projects for their part in the creation of these truly stunning natural stone projects.

Jane Buxey, Chief Executive,
Stone Federation Great Britain.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has published a new 48-page, A4 size information booklet called Controlling exposure to stone dust.

It carries the same reference number, HSG201, as Controlling exposure to stonemasonry dust: Guidance for Employers published in 2001, which it replaces.

You can buy it online here at a price of £18. It should be essential reading for anyone processing natural or engineered stone, especially materials with a high crystalline silica content such as granite, slate, sandstone, engineered quartz and porcelain.

It has been produced with contributions from the stoneworking industry and includes the HSE’s latest updated guidance relating to the risks from exposure to stone dust and the measures required to control them.

The latest in marble look ceramics from CRL Stone comes in MDi (Minerals, Design, innovation) surfaces from Spanish company Inalco, available exclusively from CRL in the UK.

These 20mm thick large format (1600mm x 3200mm) slabs are said to be eco-friendlier, thanks to water-based inks and glazes, the use of 35-45% recycled materials and 100% re-use of water, saving up to 10million litres of it a year (compared with using it once only). Nearly all the waste involved in its manufacture is also recycled.

Inalco is in Alcora, a Spanish town with a long tradition of making pottery and made particularly famous by the Royal Porcelain & Pottery Factory that opened there in the 18th century.

The body of the MDi material colour matches the surface decoration to provide visual continuity, while the veining is on the sides as well as the surfaces.

CRL Stone says its new products, produced exclusively for it by Inalco, respond to the trend for nature-inspired surfaces in kitchen design with “beautiful, bold patterning” that “exudes a timeless elegance that enables the surface to integrate seamlessly into any setting”.

In fact, says CRL, all the advantages that make the surface so suitable for use in the kitchen also make it ideal for use in bathrooms and outside.

Style-wise, creating a monochrome effect in the modern home is just one of its possibilities. The intense white background meets deep, bold, contrasting veining that looks stunning over large areas of worktops and splashbacks. But it can also be used in conjunction with contrasting shades to move up a gear.

www.crlstone.co.uk

There are more than 2million CSCS cards in circulation and 70,000 of them will expire in 2024 because the industry accreditation route that led to them being issued is no longer accepted. Holding a card now requires a qualification, which for many people means an NVQ or SVQ.

The industry accreditation route to the card was introduced when the Construction Skills Certification Scheme was created in 1995, so that those working in the industry who were considered capable of doing the work did not have to go through the process of obtaining a qualification, especially those in specialist areas such as stonemasonry. But in future they will have to and time is running out for people to obtain that qualification in order to retain a card before all the industry accreditation cards are withdrawn in September 2024.

The message is not new. The industry has been told for several years that the industry accreditation route is ending and the cards issued under it will be withdrawn – but there are still 70,000 of them in use.

That was why the message was reiterated by Gordon Jenkins from CSCS at the Natural Stone Industry Training Group (NSITG) meeting that followed the AGM on 22 November, all online, as is now standard for the group.

Gordon said his previous boss had described industry accreditations as being for “the old and the bold”. They are often known as ‘grandfather rights’, which Gordon said managed to be both ageist and sexist.

However, industry accredited cards are predominantly held by men over 50. And there is a concern that when industry accreditation cards are withdrawn, those holding them will also withdraw from the industry, which is undesirable when companies are already facing skills shortages.

Gordon Jenkins said that in the stone sector ‘grandfather rights’ had come through what was called managed industry accreditation, which was itself quite a detailed process to go through. He said the alternative of obtaining a vocational qualification (VQ) through OSAT (on site accreditation and training) will continue, but CSCS is working with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) to develop a process to make obtaining a VQ even easier and more efficient for those with proven work experience.

He said: “There’s this myth that you have to go back to college. That’s not what this is about.”

Gordon pointed out that it is not only NVQs that qualify people for CSCS cards. Apprenticeships and City & Guilds are also valid, although not everyone has retained their certificates or finds it easy to lay their hands on evidence showing the training they went through. And City & Guilds does not have comprehensive records of everyone who ever obtained its certificates.

For those who do need to obtain an NVQ or SVQ, age should not be a barrier. Gordon said one person who had obtained an NVQ in order to renew his card was 72.

Gordon pointed out that CSCS cards are not a mandatory requirement, although developers and contractors are at liberty to restrict site access to those who hold them and to restrict certain activities to those who hold appropriate cards showing relevant qualifications.

NSITG members also heard from Steve Farrow of apprenticeship training agency (ATA) Evolve Apprentices. Steve conceded that ATAs do not have a great reputation, but said they work well in construction.

He said ‘diversity’ is a term frequently used to encourage businesses to recruit and employ people from outside their traditional pool of labour and Evolve Apprentices is working towards increasing diversity in construction.

It employes 50 apprentices in London and the West Midlands and 67% of them do not describe themselves as ‘white British’.

Evolve had identified areas where there is a shortage of apprentices, which include the stone industry, especially in the heritage sector, and roofing.

A problem is that many companies operating in these sectors do not have projects lasting long enough to cover an apprenticeship and are reluctant to take on apprentices that they might not be able to keep fully employed.

However, they can be obliged by Section 106 agreements to provide employment and skills initiatives on a project, so Evolve’s solution is to employ the apprentices itself and fit them into various projects as required.

If there is no job to move them on to, Evolve will continue to employ them until one becomes available so that the apprenticeship continues. It also takes responsibility for them when they are attending college courses.

Steve said Evolve covers its costs of paying the apprentices, providing personal protective equipment (apart from site requirements such as hard hats), and its administration fees by charging the host companies that offer the apprentices positions.

If the host company wants to be sure an apprentice will fit in, work experience and trial periods can be arranged. Otherwise, placements normally last between three and 12 months.

Michelle Turner, who Chairs the NSITG, said after hearing Steve’s presentation: “It sounds a really great scheme.” Steve said it was proving a successful way of recruiting people into the sector.

Stone companies are once again reminded of the need to assess, monitor and reduce the risk of employees' exposure to vibration injuries when using power tools. 

This reminder comes as a health board in Wales, responsible for looking after people’s health, is fined £160,000 for exposing its own workers to vibration injuries that led to three cases of Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS).

An investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) found the health board had even ignored requests from its own occupational health department to conduct an assessment of the risks being faced by employees, who routinely operated handheld power tools such as lawnmowers, strimmers and hedge cutters for several hours a day, particularly during the summer.

The health board had not carried out any assessment of the risks its employees faced. There was no monitoring nor any estimate of exposure levels. Information, instruction and training given was also minimal.

Some of the employees had been operating power tools for several decades when three of them were diagnosed as suffering from Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS).

Powys Teaching Health Board of Glasbury House, Bronllys Hospital, Bronllys, Powys, Wales, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 when it appeared before Wrexham Magistrates on 22 November. As well as being fined £160,000 it was ordered to pay costs of £5,599.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Joe Boast said: “This was a case of the health board completely failing to grasp the importance of managing its staff’s exposure to vibration while using handheld power tools.

“Employers should conduct a full assessment of the vibration magnitude and exposure duration before reviewing whether employees are at risk. There is a simple online calculator to help employers complete this process.

“If the health board had followed the free guidance, it would not have exposed employees to risk and possibly have prevented the ill health that has been suffered.”

HSE’s hand-arm vibration exposure calculator can be found here along with more advice on controlling exposure to the risk of vibration injuries. 

hse.gov.uk

Australia has always been hot on tackling the danger of inhaling respirable crystalline silica (RCS) while processing engineered quartz, and now a union is calling on the government to ban it altogether.

Zach Smith , the incoming National Secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union (CFMEU) has said if the federal government does not ban production, importation and use of engineered stone by July 2024, it will ban its members from handling it.

"This product is killing workers and the reality is Australian workers will keep dying unless we ban engineered stone," he told Australia’s ABC News.

Supporting the call is Kyle Goodwin, who was a fit, young worker in a stone worktop company in 2004. Now he's a 37-year-old with silicosis who can't go for a walk without getting out of breath. "You're just suffocating slowly,” he says.

Four years ago he was told he had five years to live. Now he wants the engineered stone he spent many years working to be banned. "This is a preventable illness and we need to make sure that it does not continue to happen," he said.

In 2021 a report by Australia’s National Dust Disease Taskforce said nearly one in four workers exposed to silica dust from engineered stone before 2018 has been diagnosed with silicosis.

The report said existing workplace health & safety regulations had not protected stonemasons and recommended further safety measures should be imposed, although it stopped short of calling for the product to be banned.

Zach Smith says he knows of a number of workplaces that have followed best practice to manage the risk of exposure to silica dust but cases of silicosis have still arisen.

Kate Cole, the President of the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists, likens the risk of exposure to silica to that of asbestos and supports the call for banning products containing high levels of crystalline silica.

Chris Churm, the new Managing Director of landscape product company Marshalls' Landscape Protection business, is working with experts in the company's team to ensure it can offer a range of products to meet the requirements of the Protect Duty expected to become law next year.

Also known as Martyn’s Law, the Protect Duty will require the owners of publicly accessible areas to implement protective measures to mitigate against the threat of terrorist attacks.

It earned the name of Martyn's Law as a result of the attack on the Manchester Arena during an Ariana Grande concert in 2017. The name refers to Martyn Hett, one of the victims of the attack where a suicide bomber killed 22 people and injured hundreds more.

Chris Churm says: “Protect Duty is also an important topic in our industry right now. The new legislation expected to come into force in 2023 is one of our priorities and we are working with the experts in our team to ensure that our product range offers suitable solutions to meet requirements.”

To go to the section of Marshalls website dealing with Landscape Protection and street furniture, click here. 

Chris Churm was appointed Managing Director of Marshalls Landscape Protection in June, also becoming MD of Marshalls Natural Stone. He has taken responsibility for the day-to-day management and trading performance of the two business areas of the leading landscape company.  

Chris joined Marshalls in 2006 and has worked across the company in various roles, most recently as Trading Director responsible for the company's business with domestic installers, including responsibility for Marshalls' Register of Accredited Landscape Contractors.

Before that his roles included Commercial Regional Trading Manager, engaging with specifiers and commercial contractors across all Marshalls' catalogues, and National Accounts Director, managing sales teams focused on builders merchants.

Commenting on his latest promotion, Chris said: “I am delighted to be working in this role, which covers our Landscape Protection and Natural Stone businesses. With the support of a fantastic team, we have already begun to develop the business areas further.

"In terms of Landscape Protection, we have placed a focus on supporting those responsible for the safety and design of the public realm with our vast portfolio of protective and non-protective street furniture, post and rail and active travelling products.

"Additionally, our stone business gives me the opportunity to work with colleagues and customers to really develop our total value proposition across Marshalls’ portfolio of beautiful and technically outstanding ranges."

The delivery of Tarmac bagged cement loaded on green Pallet Loop pallets at builders merchant Bradfords' Glastonbury branch marks the start of the first end-to-end trial of a new circular economy pallet re-use scheme for construction.

Bradfords and Tarmac are trialling the use of The Loop Pallet system to move goods between their businesses and out to a select number of Bradfords’ customers in Somerset. (Read our report of the launch of the scheme earlier this year here.)

Loop is based on the principle of recover, repair, re-use, to help the construction industry meet its net zero emissions target by 2050 and reduce some of the enormous amount of waste the building industry disposes of every year.

The Pallet Loop uses 100% Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) pallets that are easily identifiable because they are bright green and printed with the word ‘Loop’. They all follow the same standard design, making them safer to move, manage and stack, and helping to maximise lorry distribution capacity.

The Pallet Loop operates using a returnable pallet charge that incentivises re-use.

By attaching a value to the pallet, which is refunded at the point of return, The Pallet Loop provides a financial motivation for individuals and companies to put pallets back into the Loop rather than skipping or scrapping them.

This positive shift in behaviour will greatly reduce the burden that pallet production currently places on the environment and our forests, with an estimated 6,000 acres of forest harvested each year for construction industry pallets (although a further 236,000 acres are growing to cater for future demand). The wood can easily be used elsewhere.

Switching to The Pallet Loop also has the potential to produce savings on waste costs. The Pallet Loop estimates that companies could save as much as £10,000 for every 1,000 green pallets they put back into the Loop.

The standard collection charge for the collection of mixed Loop and white pallets within 72hrs is £125 for up to 50 pallets. Putting a pallet in a waste skip is likely to cost at least £6 per pallet and could be as much as £12.

Giles Bradford, Head of Sustainability at Bradfords Building Supplies, says: “We see examples of both unsafe pallets and pallet waste every day across our sector. They’re a crucial enabler for the construction industry, but the evidence of stacks of pallets clogging merchant branches or being skipped on-site is only too apparent. It’s important for us to assess environmental sustainability at every stage of the supply chain. Trialling The Pallet Loop is the latest step in our efforts to reduce our own environmental impact, but looks to support a much wider benefit across the sector.

“We are delighted to be supporting the initiative and looking forward to seeing how the trial progresses.”

Developers and trades receive the distinctive Loop pallets during the Bradfords / Tarmac trial should either return them to Bradfords on their next visit or ready them to be loaded on to a Bradfords delivery lorry the next time one visits their site. When pallets are returned the refundable pallet charge will be credited to company or person returning it.

Garry Gregory, Packed Products Director at Tarmac, says: “We’re proud to be part of this UK construction industry first with our involvement in the end-to-end trial of the new pallet re-use scheme.

“The Pallet Loop re-use scheme is key to reducing waste and the demand for natural resources, ensuring we use and supply pallets in a greener, more sustainable way - this aligns closely with our 2030 circular economy goals in ‘Act’, our sustainability strategy. We are looking forward to seeing how the trial progresses and hope to see a successful roll out of the scheme in the months ahead.”

Paul Lewis, Founder of The Pallet Loop, praises Tarmac and Bradfords for their forward-thinking approach to sustainability and having “clearly recognised the value that a circular economy pallet re-use scheme will have not just for their businesses but also their customers, the wider industry, and the environment.

“We’ve spent the past year speaking to key players throughout the construction sector, explaining the simplicity of our model and how easily it can be integrated into the sector. Tarmac and Bradfords are now proving that in practice – putting the Loop to the test. We look forward to working with both companies on this trial as we plan the wider roll out of The Pallet Loop in early 2023.”

To service its circular economy pallet re-use scheme, The Pallet Loop operates collection sites and repair hubs nationwide. Pallets are taken back to the nearest site where they re-enter the pallet pool after being checked for damage.

The Pallet Loop plans to be fully operational in early 2023. It will work the same way as in the Bradfords-Tarmac trial.

Smaller developers and trades will be able to return pallets to the merchant branch that delivered them or call them to discuss the possibility of backhauling when additional deliveries are made to site or vehicles are in the proximity of the sites. Larger developers and principal contractors will be able to book a collection slot for multiple pallets to be picked up directly by The Pallet Loop.

Companies interested in evaluating The Pallet Loop’s pallets or organising a trial of their own should email info@thepalletloop.com, call 0800 024 6130 or take a look at the website www.thepalletloop.com.