Professional Services
In addition to hosting visitors and running training courses, the National Stone Centre undertakes a wide range of design and research work.
Design commissions
Our design commissions are wide ranging and include viewpoint panels for trails and quarries, publications and illustrations relating to education, quarrying past and present, geodiversity/geoconservation, ecology and industrial history.
Clients include: Aggregates Industries, Tarmac, Lafarge, Midland Quarry Products, Natural England, Gallagher Materials.
Stone sourcing and matching - archive
The National Stone Centre will carry out stone sourcing and matching for bridges, buildings, churches, walls etc., and historical research relating to all sectors of the quarrying industry.
Clients include: British Waterways, Houses of Parliament, Preston City Council, Chatsworth House, University of Sheffield, English Heritage, Derbyshire County Council.
The National Stone Centre has a library (accessible by prior appointment) covering geology, the minerals industry, minerals planning and a school resources section. It also has a large collection of geological material and photographs, and a small archive on quarry history. All these are at the stage of initial curatorial work and documentation.
Industrial History Research
Recent studies have included: quarries in Mendip, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Channel Islands, Devon, Wales, Yorkshire; High Peak Tramway, KJD Solicitors.
Clients include: English Heritage, University of Sheffield, Aggregate Industries, Midland Quarry Products.
Evidence Base for Minerals Planning
For example inputs to East Midlands Aggregates Working Party, North Wales Aggregates Working Party, East Midlands Regional Economic Strategy, Milton Keynes/South Midlands Growth Zone Study.
Clients include: Department for Communities and Local Government, East Midlands Development Agency, Welsh Assembly Government, British Geological Survey, Bridport Borough Council, Gwynedd Council, Flintshire County Council.
Geoconservation
Geodiversity audits, local geodiversity action plans, trails advice for Derbyshire and Peak District, South East Peak Quarries Project; Goodquarry.com (University of Leeds).
Clients include: University of Leeds
Other Educational Activities
These include writing/designing/co-ordinating learning material (For Example: Educational Use of Aggregate Sites (EUAS)).
Clients include: Quarry Productions Association, Earth Science Teachers’ Association, Royal Society of Chemistry.
Technical Support
Currently the NSC provides technical support to the East Midlands Aggregates Working Party (for which it produces annual reports) and the North Wales Regional Aggregates Working Party (NWaRAWP) – producing the 2004 and 2005 reports and the Regional Technical Statement (RTS). The RTS is a region-wide framework for decision making. The National Stone Centre is also engaged in coordinating the RTS for South Wales RAWP and has recently completed (with the British Geological Survey), a detailed analysis of the planning context and demand for aggregates for the Milton Keynes/South Midlands Growth Zone.
Regional Technical Statement Latest projects
The National Stone Centre's latest project involves a thorough review of the impact of the Verney Report - a ground-breaking document produced in 1976 to consider the future of aggregates planning in Britain. To assist in this process, a copy of the Verney Recommendations and Conclusions is available as a pdf file. If you have any comments please email them to the Director of the National Stone Centre nsc@nationalstonecentre.org.uk