Welcome

Welcome to our very first newsletter

A warm welcome to the first edition of the Shaw Stone trade newsletter.

We’ve created it with one simple aim: to keep our valued trade customers up to date with the news that matters most to you. There’s always a great deal happening — both here at Shaw Stone and across the wider stone, home improvement and commercial installation industry — and we wanted a regular way to share the most useful of it with you.

Each issue, you can expect a look at recent projects, the latest materials arriving in our yard and showroom, news from the business, and the industry developments we think you should know about.

We hope you enjoy this first edition. It’s very much for you, so if there’s anything you’d like to see more of — or any way we can make it more useful — please do get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.

Robert Shaw
Managing Director, Shaw Stone Ltd

Project Spotlight

voco Southampton

When a landmark waterfront hotel steps up into a premium brand, every surface has to look the part — and perform under pressure, day in, day out. We were proud to play our part in the transformation of voco Southampton, the IHG hotel on Herbert Walker Avenue overlooking the city’s cruise terminals, created through the major refurbishment of the former Holiday Inn Southampton.

How we got involved

We were approached by Building Integrated Services Ltd (BIS) to support their tender for the conversion. BIS won the contract and brought us in to supply and install the surfaces for the reception desk, the reception feature wall, the buffet area and the bar. Cabinetry was built by Jacobs Joinery & Shopfitting Ltd, and we worked hand in glove with their team throughout — a genuinely collaborative project that built a relationship we value.

The materials

The designers specified a beautiful palette, and these are materials we love to work with:

• Silestone Versailles Ivory quartz — a bright, welcoming ivory with striking golden-toned veining
• Silestone Parisien Bleu quartz — a deep, moody blue-grey used as a bold architectural accent
• Laminam Verderame 12mm sintered stone — a large-format porcelain with a patinated, aged-copper aesthetic, used for the reception feature wall

The pairing of the Versailles Ivory with the Parisien Bleu was a real piece of design inspiration — the warm gold and the cool blue-grey working together beautifully, and tying into the gold “voco by IHG” signage and the patinated green of the Laminam wall behind.

Reception

The reception desk is an exercise in colour-blocking and contrast: the Versailles Ivory wraps the main interlocking desk structures for a clean, spacious feel, while the Parisien Bleu is inserted as bold vertical pillars and top surfaces that frame the lighter sections and ground the whole piece. Behind it, the large-format Laminam Verderame cladding flows continuously across the wall with minimal joints, mimicking a custom architectural installation and letting the gold signage and crystal chandeliers shine.

Buffet & bar

We carried the Versailles Ivory through into the dining and bar spaces to give the whole venue a cohesive feel from arrival to dining. The multi-tiered buffet uses the quartz across several levels to create a grand, monolithic food-service station, with under-counter LED lighting that both functionalises the workspace and catches the golden veining so the structure appears to float above the geometric floor. Quartz was the ideal choice here — the opulent look of marble, but non-porous, scratch-resistant and hygienic, exactly as a high-traffic hot and cold buffet demands.

At the bar, the ivory quartz is paired with deep teal glazed tiles that echo the Parisien Bleu and Verderame tones. The standout detail is the double bullnose edge — a fully rounded top and bottom profile that’s soft and comfortable for guests leaning at the bar, catches the ambient light beautifully, and is far more resistant to chipping from glassware than a squared edge. Form and function in equal measure.

Precision behind the scenes

Every piece was measured using our digital Proliner plotters, with the files transferred straight to our CNC machinery for precision cutting and finishing. We used only the best adhesives to create tight, unobtrusive joints built to last in a demanding commercial setting.

It’s exactly the kind of commercial project we relish — high standards, hard-wearing surfaces and a finish that has to perform every day in a busy hospitality environment. The result is a space that feels boutique, welcoming and impeccably curated.

New Materials & Products

Exceptional new arrivals

Three remarkable materials have caught our eye this month — each with a very different story to tell.

Possibly the only time you’ll ever see this in the UK

Every so often a material comes along that stops you in your tracks. This is one of them.

Arriving soon, courtesy of one of our suppliers, are two slabs of Pandora Green — an exotic quartzite from Brazil so rare we believe it has never before been imported to the United Kingdom. Across its surface, vivid jewel-green swirls move through veins of gold and clusters of white quartz, with flashes of crystalline green scattered throughout.

A little insider knowledge to share with your clients: stones like this are sometimes nicknamed “emerald quartzite” — but the dazzling green isn’t from emeralds at all. It comes from fuchsite, a sparkling green mica that owes its colour to traces of chromium — the very same element that gives true emeralds their famous hue. Different mineral, same source of colour. The result is a quartzite that’s exceptionally hard, durable and heat-resistant, with all the drama of a precious gem.

Book-matched, the pair opens like a mirror image — a single, breathtaking statement that would transform an island, a feature wall, or a luxury bar or reception. For the right project, it’s genuinely a once-in-a-lifetime piece.

There are only two slabs. When they’re gone, they’re gone — and the chances of seeing their like again are slim. If you have a discerning client or a flagship project where nothing but the extraordinary will do, we’d encourage you to talk to us early.

The stone that comes alive with light

If Pandora Green is about drama, Cristallo Quartzite is about pure, luminous elegance. Available now through our London supplier, it comes in huge slabs measuring 3.04 x 2.07m at 2cm thick — generous enough for the largest islands and feature pieces. Stock is limited, so it’s well worth moving quickly on the right project.

Cristallo is one of the most premium and sought-after natural stones in the world, and it’s easy to see why. Its icy, semi-translucent white background is crisscrossed with striking golden, amber and rust-coloured veining — the natural signature of iron-oxide deposits formed during the stone’s creation deep within the earth in Brazil.

Its party piece: it can be backlit. Cristallo’s crystalline structure makes it genuinely translucent, so with LED panels set behind it the stone glows from within — turning a bar top, a feature wall or a statement island into a true centrepiece. It’s one of the most spectacular effects available in natural stone.

It’s as tough as it is beautiful, too: formed almost entirely of quartz crystals under immense heat and pressure, Cristallo rates around 7 on the Mohs hardness scale — highly durable, scratch-resistant and resistant to acid etching.

A word on craftsmanship: because Cristallo is so dense and crystalline, it’s a more demanding material to fabricate than standard granites, requiring the right blades, the right feed rates and real expertise to work it safely and flawlessly. It’s a material only a true specialist would take on — and exactly the kind of challenge our workshop relishes.

The drama of marble, the strength of quartzite — and a genuine bargain

Here’s one for the project where you want serious impact without serious compromise. Crystos Quartzite gives you the bold, high-contrast movement you’d normally associate with a heavily veined marble — but with the hard-wearing durability of a true quartzite underneath. The best of both worlds, and far easier to live with.

A deep charcoal and grey base is shot through with sharp, crystalline white veins, with striking flashes of copper, rust and burgundy where natural iron-oxide deposits gather. It’s a stone with real presence — the kind that makes an island or a full-height splashback the centrepiece of a room.

And right now there’s a genuine bargain to be had: we have it available to trade at just £2,700 ex VAT per slab — heavily reduced from its usual price and exceptional value for a quartzite of this calibre — with limited availability through our London supplier. At this price it won’t hang around.

Like all true quartzites, it’s exceptionally tough: around 7 on the Mohs scale, highly resistant to scratching, heat and acid etching, with very low porosity for excellent long-term stain resistance. That makes it a confident choice for the most demanding settings — busy family kitchens, expansive island fascias and commercial bar tops alike.

The images here show just what it’s capable of: Crystos worktops paired with a full-height book-matched splashback, and a dramatic waterfall-edge island. It’s a material that rewards careful, expert templating and fabrication — managing the directional veining and natural fault lines so the finished piece flows beautifully across seams and corners. Exactly the sort of work our team takes pride in getting right.

Showroom & Range

More than worktops: your one-stop hard-surfaces partner

The projects we’re involved in are rarely just about a worktop. Increasingly, our customers are building extensions, undertaking full kitchen renovations, or even whole-house projects — and the same clients who need a stunning worktop usually need wall tiles, floor tiles or LVT to match.

So we made a decision: to become a genuine one-stop shop for our customers’ hard-surface requirements. Earlier this year we opened our new tile showroom — including a dedicated outdoor tile range — giving your clients a single place to see, touch and choose everything from worktops to wall and floor finishes under one roof.

To cover the full breadth of the market, we now offer two complementary tile ranges:

• Premium tiles from Ca’Pietra — natural stone, porcelain, ceramic and outdoor paving, showcased on our dedicated site capietrashawstone.co.uk. As a Ca’Pietra Gold Reseller, we can offer the full collection on preferential terms — and the range even extends to luxury vinyl flooring through Ca’Pietra’s Minerale LVT collection, so a project’s flooring can be specified alongside everything else.
• The Shaw Stone tile range — our own selection of beautiful, hard-wearing wall and floor tiles for kitchens, bathrooms, commercial spaces and outdoors. Browse them at shawstone.co.uk/shaw-stone-tiles.

Between the two, we can specify for almost any project and any budget — from a feature splashback to a full floor.

Working with us as a trade partner

This is where it gets interesting for you. Whether you’d like to handle the tile selection yourself, or simply send your customers to us, we’re happy to help however suits you best. Trade customers are welcome to visit the showroom any time — and we’re glad to discuss either a trade discount or a commission arrangement, whichever works better for your business.

It’s a simple way to offer your clients more, without taking on more yourself.

Industry Insight

Silica dust: where the law now stands, and how we protect our team

On 11 May 2026, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) issued its most significant intervention yet in the engineered stone sector — declaring that dry cutting of engineered stone is now unacceptable, and that on-tool water suppression is how businesses must meet their legal duty. (HSE press release, 11 May 2026)

It’s backed by enforcement with teeth: HSE inspectors are carrying out more than 1,000 visits to fabricators across Great Britain over the next 12 months, with the first inspections already underway.

Why it matters

Engineered stone can contain up to 95% crystalline silica. When cut, ground or polished, it releases respirable crystalline silica (RCS) — fine dust that causes silicosis, an incurable but entirely preventable lung disease. Unlike natural stone, where disease typically takes decades, recent cases linked to engineered stone have developed in just months or a few years. HSE research found that dry fabrication typically exposes workers to RCS levels five to ten times higher than wet methods using the same tools.

What the law now requires

HSE’s first-ever COSHH guidance for engineered stone sets out clear expectations:

• Switch to engineered stone with a low silica content where reasonably practicable
• Use on-tool water suppression — no dry cutting
• Control the mist generated by water suppression
• Provide appropriate respiratory protective equipment (RPE)
• Carry out regular health surveillance

As HSE’s Mike Calcutt put it: “Silicosis is incurable, but it is entirely preventable… the guidance is now published, the expectations are clear, and our inspectors are coming.”

How Shaw Stone protects its team

At Shaw Stone, protecting our people has always come first — and our practices already meet, and in many areas exceed, the standards HSE is now enforcing:

• Wet processing as standard. Around 99% of all cutting and polishing in our factory is carried out on machines fitted with water suppression — the very control HSE now requires — keeping respirable dust to a minimum.
• Controlled dry cutting, when unavoidable. On the rare occasions dry cutting is necessary in the factory, it’s done in front of a water-wall dust extractor, with the operative wearing an Optrel Swiss Air powered respirator.
• Top-tier respiratory protection. Our operatives use the Optrel Swiss Air — a body-worn powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR), a significant step above a standard disposable mask.
• Site work done safely. Where upstands need trimming on site, cutting is always carried out outdoors, with the operative wearing a Swiss Air respirator, to keep exposure to an absolute minimum.
• Trained team. Every employee has been trained on the dangers of silica dust and safe systems of work.
• Annual health monitoring. All employees receive yearly health monitoring by an occupational health specialist.
• Lower-silica future. Many of our suppliers are moving towards low-silica quartz, and we’re embracing these safer materials as they become available.

A word on cutting corners

There’s an uncomfortable truth worth naming. Doing this properly costs money — in equipment, in protective gear, in health surveillance and training. And with HSE itself acknowledging that some businesses compete on price by skimping on safety, there will always be operators tempted to cut corners to undercut responsible firms.

It raises a fair question for anyone choosing a fabrication partner: if a company is willing to compromise the safety of its own people to protect its margins, where else might it be cutting corners — on materials, on quality, on the standard of the finished job?

We’d simply encourage you to ask the question. Responsible fabrication isn’t the cheapest way to operate, but it’s the right one — for our team, for our trade partners, and for the quality of work that carries your name as well as ours.

Proud members of the Worktop Fabricators Federation

We’re proud members of the Worktop Fabricators Federation (WFF) — the industry body working to raise standards across worktop fabrication and to protect fabricators’ health. The WFF actively encourages designers and specifiers to work with reputable fabricators and to question others about their standards. We couldn’t agree more — and we’d warmly welcome that scrutiny.

Important reassurance for you and your clients

It’s worth being crystal clear on one point you can confidently pass on to your own customers: there is no silica risk whatsoever to the end customer. Respirable silica dust is only ever created during the cutting and polishing of quartz-containing stone in a controlled workshop or site setting. A finished, installed worktop is completely inert and safe — there is no ongoing risk to anyone living or working around it.

For us, this isn’t a box-ticking exercise — it’s how we’ve always believed a responsible fabricator should operate. If you’re specifying worktops for a project and want to talk through the material options, or simply want reassurance about how the stone you recommend is being handled, talk to us.