6 – 8 June
Natural Stone Show
ExCeL, London
If you are building your own home, you probably want to include natural stone. Whether it is limestone for your floors, granite for your worktops, marble in the bathroom, sandstone on the patio or slate on the roof, the chances are there will be natural stone somewhere.
You have probably chosen it because there is nothing that compares to natural stone when it comes to aesthetics. The fact that it is resilient and many consider that it even improves with age as it develops a natural patina is also probably part of its attraction.
But did you know it can also help reduce the carbon footprint of your home? And that is becoming increasingly important, with the Future Homes Standard (FHS) now only two years away.
The FHS will require all new homes to be built without gas central heating and to deliver a 75-80% reduction in carbon emissions compared with the current standards.
The idea is to build homes that will contribute less to global warming, both from the build itself and from the building’s energy consumption in use. Stone can help with both.
Natural Stone is simply dug out of the ground as a product ready to be sawn, shaped and polished. There is none of the high energy heating required for the production of materials such as steel and cement, where the heat is still usually produced by burning fuels that put a lot of CO2 into the atmosphere.
It is true the machines for cutting and shaping stone use electricity, but the electricity is increasingly likely to be renewable, much of it already being produced by photovoltaic cells on the roofs of the stone industry’s factories. And although stone does come to the UK from all over the world, it is transported in huge container ships, so the CO2 per tonne of freight delivered is low.
In use, the thermal mass of stone makes an ideal accompaniment to underfloor (or behind tiling) heating to make the most of energy from heat pumps. Underfloor heating radiates heat into a room in the same way the sun does, so a comfortable temperature can be achieved with half the heating temperature of wall mounted radiators (which, in spite of their name, do not actually radiate much heat but rather heat a room primarily via convection).
With global warming, as much of a problem in the future will be cooling a building, and here again, the thermal mass of stone has its benefits by helping to keep spaces cool.
Not all stones are the same, though, and choosing the right stone for any particular use is as important as choosing the right product for any other part of your build. To get a handle on stone, there is no quicker or easier way than by visiting the Natural Stone Show at ExCeL.
There you will be able to talk to producers and suppliers of natural stone, and if you want to dig a bit deeper, the associated seminar programme will offer more in-depth discussions.
You can plan your visit to the show (to see which seminar sessions might be of interest to you) by visiting the website, www.stoneshow.co.uk. The exhibitors are listed there, as well as the seminar programme.
If you prefer man-made quartz, sintered stone or porcelains, you can visit the Hard Surfaces exhibition which is also at co-located at ExCeL in conjunction with the Stone Show.
Stone producers are also working towards net zero by reducing their carbon footprints, such as by using renewable electricity and incorporating recycled materials in their surfaces. The show even includes some incredible new surfaces in its Material District – unlikely materials, some still in experimental stages, in a feature that visitors will find fascinating to explore.
Article supplied by Natural Stone Show
WHEN & WHERE
The Natural Stone Show will run from 6 – 8 June at ExCeL, London. Book your tickets now by visiting www.stoneshow.co.uk