Description
In 2000, while working for the family business (Stamford Stone Co Ltd -
producer's of natural building stone), it became apparent to me that a
demand for natural stone flooring was growing. Unable to supply both
time and machinery to fill this hole in the market as the demand for
their primary products were already outweighing supply, I decided to
fill this niche market myself, and start up another company in house
with Stamford Stone Co Ltd producing limestone flooring exclusively...
Lincolnshire Limestone Flooring was created!
Changes in trends, availability of under floor heating and
more of an awareness towards ecological and health issues had created
the demand for natural stone flooring, a previously almost forgotten
natural resource. Companies were forming to meet this demand, but there
was a niche market that required a high quality alternative to the
influx of cheap imported stone flooring flooding the market, and where
better to source this stone than from our local English quarries.
Lincolnshire possesses many famous limestone quarries
including Clipsham (which is owned by our sister company, Stamford
Stone Company Ltd.). They possess beautiful oolithic limestone, formed
in layers known as beds. Each bed contains variations in colours and
fossiliferous content formed over millions of years, creating
completely individual projects. Our flooring blocks are only selected
from the lower beds of the quarries that contain hard limestone with a
close pore structure, making it durable enough for even the most
heavily trafficked areas.
Each quarry we source from, extract by digging rather than
blasting, ensuring the quality of the block stone. The blocks are
transported to our workshop to be sawn into flags or tiles, they are
finished with a honed or antiqued surface, with straight or tumbled
edges dependent on the project.
Concentrating solely on production and less on showrooms our
product maintains a price which is more than accessible to the end
user, we needed no sales pitch as our product would sell itself.
Starting out using a small saw and a hand held polishing
machine we could barely produce 20m2 per week. One or two small
projects later client's friends, cousins, brothers were calling for
information. Recommendations and word of mouth has long been our
marketing strategy and we are still adamant there is no better way.
These days we can barely believe how quickly things are moving
on, we are now putting together our second portfolio showcasing a
handful of the projects that our company has been involved with.
Investment in machinery and a better understanding of the local
limestone we are now capable of at least 50m2 per day.
Supplying each client’s individual specification, making every
floor we produce bespoke. Our customers range is mainly the general
public but we get recommendations from builders, architects, interior
designers, tile stores and kitchen designers. Our production site is
based just outside Stamford where we have built a strong local
reputation. |
