The Stone Federation of Great Britain has announced the death of former president Chris Kelsey and released a statement to its members and the wider community in the stone industry.

The Stone Federation is celebrating the success of its first Stone Symposium – The Case for Stone. This one-day conference held in July at America Square Conference Centre in London explored the carbon-saving credentials of natural stone with a host of seminars, case studies and panel discussions.

The highly-successful Heritage Open Days (HODs) is celebrating its 30th anniversary with the latest programme launching tomorrow (6 September) and running until 15 September. There will be more than 5,400 events taking place across England for the duration of the festival.

The Stone Federation has announced its new Stone Federation president (2024-2026) as Adrian Attwood, executive director of Stone Federation member, DBR Limited. Attwood succeeds former president, Chris Kelsey.

The Ellwood Branch of the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain has organised a three-day event championing traditional crafts including dry stone walling, hedgelaying, stonemasonry, blacksmithing, printmaking, brewing and more.

Historic England has released its latest guidelines entitled, Adapting Historic Buildings for Energy and Carbon Efficiency. The document, which can be viewed and downloaded from the organisation's website is aimed at those in the industry including local planning authorities, heritage consultants and those involved in the planning process. However, Historic England also believe it will also be useful to building owners and occupiers.

A new technology platform, called HeritageXplore, has launched to promote the UK’s historic houses and make them more accessible to a new generation. The platform is the vision of Violet Manners who grew up in Belvoir Castle and is the former founder of marketing agency, Akana Collective, and also founder and executive producer of Duchess the podcast (now known as Hidden Heritage).

UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee has released a report recommending that Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site be placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger due to the ongoing impact of the A303 road scheme.

Clare Howcutt-Kelly learns about the art of Collyweston slating at Claude N Smith slate mine – and visits Cambridge University for a little work experience.

Are we at risk of losing the very elements that give a built environment its sense of place, asks Chris Heffernan of MPG