CONTEXT 180 : JUNE 2024 29 WHERE HERITAGE AND NATURE MEET MARK NORTH Don’t take British stone for granted The UK building stone sector will not survive on supplying the heritage sector alone, and needs the new-build market to provide it with an economically viable future. The UK has a long and proud tradition of building with dimension stone (natural stone or rock that has been selected and finished to specific sizes or shapes). The diversity of the UK’s geology means that the country is blessed with a variety of stone for building, which has been used in a multitude of ways over the centuries. This diversity defines both the urban and rural landscapes that give us a sense of place. The accelerated development of the UK’s built environment in the 18th and 19th centuries was underpinned by a geographically spread industry of stone supply, comprising thousands of usually small quarries that supported a very large manual workforce. As shipping developed, and with the arrival of the railways, these quarries started producing massive quantities of hard stone setts, kerbs, steps, walling stone, fine dressed masonry, roofing stone and more. The variety of geology provided the absolute sense of place in towns and cities across the UK, from the ‘granite city’ of Aberdeen, through the rich red sandstones found in cities like Glasgow and Liverpool, to the magnificent Portland Stone which was used extensively in London alongside a host of other limestones. A million tonnes of quarried mineral products are transported across the UK every day. The UK minerals industry provides essential raw and processed materials to the construction sector and to other manufacturing industries. The mineral products industry directly employs almost 80,000 people and supports an additional 3.5 million jobs in the economy, with up to 400 million tonnes of aggregates and manufactured mineral products produced annually. Among the wider minerals extraction industry, a very small part – although still more than one million tonnes per year – is the extraction and manufacture of building stone, also known as dimension stone. But the building stone sector that made the built heritage possible is under threat for a number of reasons. Indeed, those who cherish the use of natural stone in heritage projects, new builds and refurbishments would be unwise to assume its supply. The threat from imports raises a number of issues. First, buyers are increasingly looking at carbon emissions when sourcing materials, but the playing field is far from level for imported stone and indigenous stone. The carbon produced by stone imported from overseas is not A new stone building at Finsbury Circus, London
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=