Portland Block Stone

Portland Stone is the most prestigious limestone available and has been used extensively on the most renown buildings; St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, The new Stock Exchange in Paternoster Square and most building in the city of London have some Portland stone on them.

It is normally the preferred choice of Architects due to its excellent weathering properties and the fact that it has been used for such a long time.

Historically Proven

The stone is well proven which cannot always be said with new stones recently coming onto the market place which often fail despite having test results which state to the contrary.

Portland block stone typically weighs between 2 and 10 tonnes; however special blocks with a requirement for specific sizes or lengths can be quarried to order, with blocks of over 20 tonnes available.

Standard pricing sizes are from:

0 to 0.99 m3

1.0 to 1.99 m3

2.0 + m3

The dimension stone is able to come in two forms; raw virgin stone or roughly wire sawn finish from the quarry bed floor (£50.00 ex VAT per cut).

We are able to supply most large projects out of stock and welcome visits from Architects and contractors to see the large range available in our quarries as well as the availability of the stone.

Supplier to Masonry Companies & Carvers

Portland block stone is sold from us directly into the market place to other Masonry contractors and maintain a large customer base that is ever expanding. We also take block into our own factory for sale direct to stone fixing companies.

Carving dimension stone is available on request, depending on the size and desired use (monumental) we will advise on the most suitable quarry stone.

Suitability

Different blocks suit different applications, besides the aesthetics, the following factors should be considered – for more exposed areas where a very durable stone is required, more shell is usually suitable. In contrast for internal work or where the stone needs to be finely carved and cleaner, a more shell free stone is often selected.

Other factors that are available bed heights and stone lengths which will often make one Portland quarry more suitable than another.

Typically bed heights should not exceed 600mm in height and around 500mm bed heights is often the most economical design. Lengths should not exceed 1,000mm and 900mm is an ideal length, although where possible if random lengths with set heights can be specified this can normally result in savings in excess of 10%.

Stock

We often have promotions if we build too large a stock in a particular quarry and very competitive discounts can be given which can have a huge impact on reducing the overall cost of the project.

Our large fleet of modern heavy plant, including loading shovels, dumpers and excavators enable us to quarry efficiently keeping waste and cost to a minimum.

As a guide price small blocks under 1m3 currently sells for £230m3 plus vat.