Over the past quarter of a century natural stone has experienced a resurgence with architects and designers rejecting some of the man made materials that were so prevalent during the 1960's and 1970's, in favour of more traditional tried and tested natural stones.

Natural stone often offers more strength and weathering resistance then other artificial man made materials. Buildings constructed centuries ago can provide a good guide to how a new building will look at a similar age if constructed in similar materials. There are just not the examples present of structures built from artificial products of comparable age.

Natural stone, although sometimes more expensive than man made alternatives, can be said to give better lifetime value. The maintenance of a natural stone structure or project may often be less than artificial materials, and the design life of the project may also be extended. When the lifetime and maintenance factors are added in you often find that natural stone is the cheaper alternative. In this respect it can be said to represent the choice of the specifier with a longer term design life in mind.

As a rule of thumb, when specified correctly natural stone will last longer than the design life of a project. This is most clearly evident where Yorkstone has been used on many of the streetscapes around the country. There is demand for reclaimed Yorkstone - i.e. Yorkstone that has been used successfully on a design, the design's life has finished, but the Yorkstone is in such a condition that it can be used on another project.

Using natural stone makes a “prestige” statement for a building. Used in landscaping it makes for a more pleasant urban environment, and clearly defines a gentrified area that in its own right often acts as a lure for further private investment.

Natural Stone can be used for most forms of building and landscaping, but the selection of which stone to use for which form (paving, ashlar, cladding, steps, coping etc), is a combination of the inherent qualities of the stone, the design and situation of the product in question, the required design life of the product and the thickness of the stone. There is an old adage in the Natural Stone world "There is no such thing as using the wrong stone, but rather a stone used wrongly".

In our 'Stones' section we list technical qualities of each stone in line with British and European Standards and provide basic guidance as to which uses the material is suited for.

In addition to the information detailed on this website, we will gladly assist at the design stage of a project to aid the architect to promote a robust design, to achieve the required aesthetics whilst at the same time helping to minimise the costs.

All natural stones are formed over millions of years and it is this lengthy formation process that gives natural stone its inherent strength and technical qualities. Do not confuse natural stone with the reconstituted imitation stone - this is merely concrete trying to duplicate the real thing.