Review of British Stone 2002 Show
The
biannual British Stone Show took place 5 - 7 March 2002 in London.
Any one who has visited it in previous years will have been to the
Wembley Exhibition Centre which is in a run down industrial estate
in North London next to the old National Football Stadium. It was
never the best location for a show as evidenced by attendance figures
or at least the attendance of the right people. For some unknown
reason this year it was moved to ExCel which whilst being a fabulous
exhibition centre is in the much neglected area of the East London
Docklands next to the City Airport and on the opposite side of the
River to the Millennium Dome. The area was blitzed by the Germans
in the last war and frankly little has been done to improve the
general area since.
The
show was small by the standard of the last show at Wembley and miniscule
when compared to the shows of Nuremberg and Verona- however this
is where the British Stone Industry proudly displays its wares.
In a single hall eight aisles by eight we had a cross section of
wholesalers and producers of stone alongside machinery agents and
testing houses - surprising there were two stands from Government
agencies in the form of the Health and Safety Executive and the
Customs Agency.
There was, it has to be said a good turn out from foreign visitors
, a few from India and China as well as fellow EU Members from Germany
, Italy Portugal and Belgium. The noticeable trends were that Limestone
is still enormously popular and showing no sign of waning. Turkey
had a strong showing of travertine. Carlos Zannerotti CEO of Limestone
Gallery one of London's foremost suppliers of Limestone and Travertine
was one of the few stands that was very busy most of the time ,
creating a great deal of interest with his monolithic bathtubs in
Limestone and Basalt and well as a collection of solid stone basins
expertly crafted by Janotas & Simoes Lda of Pero Pinheiro Portugal.
Carlos, a Brazilian with an Italian passport has been setting trends
in stone for over seven years- he reinforced the opinion formed
by myself and many others "I feel that whilst it has been a
worth while experience for us being here - it is upsetting to see
that most of the visitors are either not from London which is our
main market or not the right type of customer. The show is a little
off the beaten track and we will have to see what happens before
we re- book for 2004"
On
the machinery side it was very noticeable that the CNC machines
that were starting to roll out six to eight years ago are now the
norm in the worktop fabrication market and the clear thinking is
that if suppliers do not tool up soon they will be fighting for
a very small share of the bottom of the market. The gossip on the
machinery stands was all about Intermacc parting company from Ebor
their agents. Intermacc apparently are getting rid of a lot of agents
and going direct . This would seem odd when Ebor have captured 80
% of the stone market for them and have now gone with Breton, presumably
in other countries Breton will move in to the old dealers and meet
Intermacc head to head- both are fabulous machines but Ebor have
gained a reputation for service excellence that Intermacc will not
be able to match. No one knows the logic behind this decision but
it is going to court so some blood will be spilt in the coming months.
John
Burke, Exhibition Director of The Natural Stone Show and NAMM Tradex
explained on the shows website www.stoneshow.co.uk , "The Natural
Stone Show is designed to showcase the best of British stone. It
is also an international event with exhibits from as far a field
as South Korea, India, Singapore, Australia, Spain and Italy, so
the move to ExCeL with its state of the art facilities and excellent
transport links to London and the City Airport is not a difficult
one to explain. The natural stone market in the UK is very buoyant.
Looking to the future we need a venue which can not only provide
convenient transport links for all of our visitors but also the
opportunity for the show to expand - ExCeL satisfies both requirements
admirably". All I can say is John you were wrong the industry
is in good shape but if it were only judged by the attendance at
the show one would come to the conclusion that it is dying on its
knees. If it takes two hours to get from west Central London which
it did me I cannot blame the average Londoner who says that he would
not go to Docklands if hell had him. The Show needs to be centralised
London is far to built up and congested to able to host a show like
this. If the show were in Birmingham then it would be easier for
many Londoners to get to . The NEC has a rail station and an Airport
-it has numerous motorway links and it is cheaper to hire space.
In
brief the members of the stone industry in Britain must realise
that if they do not patronise the show there will be no show and
the organisers must realise that to be patronised it must move,
preferably to the NEC in Birmingham.
(article written by Peter Smith)