The Stone Show is committed to providing a conference experience to educate, enrich and engage the visitor.
The Stone Show Seminar Theatre features around 30, free-to-attend seminars.
Three sessions each day will give insights into the key developments that will shape and transform the stone industry over the next decade, as speakers and panels explore decarbonization, sustainable design, digitalization and much more.
At the end of each seminar the audience will have the opportunity to put their questions to the speaker, whilst a panel will discuss the most salient issues at the end of each session.
Located on the show floor, the first two days will be hosted by Susannah Streeter, a leading broadcaster and sustainability commentator.
As a senior investment and markets analyst, commentator and former business journalist, Susannah is a knowledgeable and highly-skilled interviewer who has quizzed leading business figures, politicians, entrepreneurs and economists on radio and TV, over 17 years at the BBC, and at live events.
Susannah Streeter
Susannah has hosted many global conferences and interviewed world leaders and central bankers on economic issues and green policies, including the World Green Economy Summit in Dubai, the International Banking Forum in Kuwait, the Sustainable Finance Forum in Abu Dhabi and Our Ocean in Oslo.
Wednesday 7 May
Natural Stone: The Low Carbon Construction Solution
This brings together some of the leading voices around the topic of using natural stone to decarbonise the built environment and explore some of the resources and studies that demonstrate the impressive sustainability credentials of natural stone.
2024 Natural Stone Awards: The Industry Choice
Each of the 2024 Natural Stone Awards category winners have gone into a public vote to find the industry’s favourite project. This session will feature presentations from the architects behind some of these award-winning schemes as well as the Natural Stone Awards: The Industry Choice presentation.
Stone Federation Student Architect Prize
Stone Federation are passionate about inspiring the next generation of architectural talent to utilise the beauty, sustainability and versatility of natural stone. The Stone Federation Student Architect Prize will celebrate those designs which demonstrate the use of natural stone to deliver a sustainable project, grounded in its locale that addresses a current challenge faced by the built environment.
Thursday 8 May
Using the Standards to Deliver Sustainable Projects
This will look at the how the latest updates to the British Standards and industry best practice guidelines can help architects, designers and specifiers deliver more sustainable projects, and will cover recent revisions to paving design and internal cladding guidelines.
The Changing Face of UK Quarrying
Exploring how modern technologies and efficiencies have enabled the UK quarrying operation to deliver some of the lowest carbon products available globally. It will ‘myth bust’ some of the preconceptions that people might have about the practice of quarrying and UK quarrying and introduce some of the new products being produced by the quarries.
Structural stone: The New Horizon
Over the past few years there has been a growing momentum of research, conferences and articles around the impressive sustainability credentials of load-bearing or structural stone projects. Amin Taha’s 15 Clerkenwell Close project undoubtedly brought this way of using stone to the headlines. This session will unpack some of the exciting developments around this conversation.
Friday 9 May
Uncovering the UK’s Forgotten Stones
The UK is home to perhaps the richest geology on the planet, and this session will look at some of the schemes in place and being developed to fully utilise our indigenous natural stone as well as discussing the challenges faced of the commercial growth of the UK stone market.
Natural Stone and Retrofit: A Natural Fit
As part of the efforts to reduce the carbon impacts of the built environment, there is a fresh drive for clients to prioritise the retrofitting of existing buildings over demolition and rebuild. This session will explore some of the key topic around this conversation.
Emerging Talent Award: Celebrating and Inspiring the Next Generation of Stone Industry Talent
Alongside the presentation of the Emerging Talent Award, this session will explore what the industry is doing to invest in the next generation and discuss the challenges of training and talent retention and how the industry is looking to solve these.
