County Durham Company Set Traditional Skills in ?Stone?
Specialist repair company, Stone Technical Services, is preserving traditional skills, such as stonemasonry, thanks to a growing demand for traditional repair services.
The number of companies offering stonemasonry and services related to the repair and restoration of historic buildings continues to dwindle across the UK as fewer young people have a desire to learn such trades.
Darlington-based Stone specialises in the restoration of churches and historic buildings and has a growing team which is continually trained to CITB and NVQ standards in areas such as lime mortar and stonemasonry.
To ensure buildings undergo a sympathetic restoration, as well as calling on its team with unique skills who are used to working with precious metals in the building process, Stone also works with specialist manufacturers to obtain the most traditional materials.
Working all over the UK on a variety of high profile buildings such as St Paul’s Cathedral and Selfridges in London and for organisations such as English Heritage and the National Trust, Stone employs 18 people at offices on Kellaw Road in Darlington and in Pinner, Middlesex.
As well as offering restoration services, Stone also specialises in all aspects of high level maintenance, safety systems, lightning conductor installation and steeplejack services.
Dave Stone said: “These days traditional skills are often overlooked but, in a time of recession when jobs are scarce, being skilled in a trade can be a huge advantage. Historic buildings will always need repair and we work all over the UK restoring everything from huge cathedrals to community churches as well as repairing precious artefacts such as weather vanes and flashings on roofs.
“Very few companies can offer such services but we constantly encourage all of the team to undergo thorough training so that we can preserve these traditional skills for years to come.”
