I congratulate Graeme Dey on securing the debate and welcome the contributions that members across the chamber have made.
I am genuinely delighted that we are having a debate about an industry that has maybe not been in the spotlight and has perhaps not had the attention that it deserves. We have heard from members across the chamber how important our stone is to the heritage that we sometimes take for granted in this country. It is a great part of what makes Scotland a special place. As David Torrance said, it affects all our communities and town centres. I suspect that we will all have had correspondence from constituents about the quality of the built environment, because it upsets people when they see it deteriorate.
Having a domestic source of stone to replace worn-out stone on deteriorating buildings is absolutely vital if we are to preserve the iconic structures and town centres that we all take for granted.
As Graeme Dey highlighted, the Scottish Stone Group was established with the excellent aim of promoting the use of indigenous stone in Scottish construction projects. I was delighted to attend its launch in the Scottish Parliament, as many other members did, in November. It was great to see members of the group looking around the chamber today as well. I welcome them to the chamber.
It is important that we raise awareness of the issue, as other members have done. A significant amount of stone is imported into Scotland at this time and there is a great opportunity to grow the sector and replace imported products with quality Scottish stone that is quarried here in Scotland.
Scotland has a great variety of stone that is suitable for building, due to its varied geology, to which Gordon MacDonald, David Torrance, Graeme Dey and other members referred. It also has a tremendous heritage of impressive stone buildings throughout the country. Indeed, as members have said, it is claimed that Scotland has more stone buildings per head of population than any other country in the world. With Stirling Castle, the royal mile and Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness, Scotland’s landscape is undoubtedly enhanced by its tremendous stone buildings that fit so well into their settings. The types of stone that are used vary across the country and give a sense of place, from the warm sandstones of the Borders to the granite of Aberdeen that Bill Bowman and Maurice Corry referred to.
Therefore, I am delighted that three stone companies—Denfind Stone, which is in Mr Dey’s Angus South constituency; Hutton Stone, which I had the pleasure to visit in Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders; and Tradstocks, which is based in Stirlingshire—have seized the opportunity to co-operate and create the Scottish Stone Group. The group will raise awareness, collaborate, look for ways in which it can make the sector more competitive and help to build a relationship with the Government and our agencies so that we can support the industry in important areas such as innovation.
Those companies’ combined experience, knowledge and product provides the group with a strong foundation for success—a rock solid foundation, if I can add to the puns that we have heard today. I applaud them for doing so. [Interruption.] Sorry, I did not want to disappoint Jackie Baillie; I knew that she was waiting for a pun from me.
The Scottish Government promotes good design, which respects context and makes use of materials that are sympathetic to the setting of the project and limit the impact on the environment. Jackie Baillie, Graeme Dey and others have raised very powerful points on the carbon intensity of the process when stone is sourced from locations such as China.
Our built environment has a rich legacy of the innovative use of stone, and we are keen to capitalise on, and promote the use of, our national assets wherever possible. As well as looking attractive and fitting into our landscapes, Scottish stone has the advantage of being very environmentally friendly. Notwithstanding the valid points that Jackie Baillie raised on the need to be mindful of communities and the environmental impact of the quarrying process, great strides forward have been made. How modern processes are becoming more efficient and less damaging to the environment is one of the important messages that we have heard from the Scottish Stone Group. Perhaps people’s view of the quarrying industry is founded in something that happened hundreds of years ago, but we have moved on a lot and technology is helping that process.
Stone needs little processing as a product, and it does not need to be transported any great distance, which is an important consideration given that it is such a heavy material. Among potential clients who purchase stone, it is important that we raise awareness of the fact that they can reduce their environmental impact by sourcing locally.
Given that the built environment accounts for approximately 50 per cent of carbon emissions in Scotland, the construction sector can make a significant contribution to the Scottish Government’s sustainability targets for 2020 and 2050. Greater use of Scottish stone can help us to achieve those targets.
I am pleased to note that Historic Environment Scotland, in partnership with the British Geological Survey, has committed to hosting a Scottish stone forum, twice a year, at the Engine Shed in Stirling. That will bring together the construction, conservation and heritage sectors so that they can learn more about the importance of Scottish traditional materials and promote their use. The Scottish Stone Group has indicated that it will support and attend that event, which is a very welcome early intervention by the sector. Alongside Scottish Enterprise and the construction Scotland innovation centre, hosting the Scottish stone forum will enable Historic Environment Scotland to renew the commitment that it made to the Scottish stone liaison group. It also made a commitment that it would continue to work with public and private sector partners to promote the use of Scottish stone.
Bill Bowman very fairly referred to some of the constraints around public procurement, and he was right to do so. However, by raising awareness of the validity of using Scottish stone, its importance and its environmental advantages, we can make potential public and private clients aware of the merits of using Scottish stone.
On that note, I congratulate Historic Environment Scotland and the British Geological Survey on the work that they are undertaking to produce the building stone database for Scotland. The database, which is due to be launched in the summer, will hold details of the building stones that are used in Scotland—current building stones and the many historical ones. Earlier, Gordon MacDonald went through an extensive list of examples that have been used. The database will link each building stone to the quarry from which it originated and to some of the buildings in which it has been used. The information will be supported by images and links to reference materials. I am particularly pleased that the database will be publicly available, as it will increase knowledge of this important part of our built heritage. It has the long-term objective of helping to maintain and conserve our country’s priceless built heritage assets and I look forward to the resource becoming publicly available.
The Scottish Stone Group received support from Co-operative Development Scotland to set up as a consortium co-operative during 2016. It recently participated in the CDS consortium development programme, which was a programme of support that ran for around nine months, was consultant-led and focused on developing strategic and behavioural aspects of the consortium. I am pleased that the Scottish Stone Group fully recognises the benefits of collaboration to increase productivity and creativity and to influence the Parliament, the Government, local government and other potential clients.
Scottish Enterprise and the construction Scotland innovation centre are fully supportive of the Scottish Stone Group and its aims. Scottish Enterprise will work with the group to market and network with the wider construction industry—architectural professionals and others who need to be aware of the product’s potential offering—and support its plans to promote the use of Scottish stone.
It will also facilitate engagement with the construction industry leadership group. I am confident that that will lead to a better understanding of how best to utilise the tremendous variety of our native stone in the construction industry and to develop, where possible, new products that will help with cladding and for other purposes so that we can make sure that we can have modern architecture in historic settings that will blend in with its surroundings.
This has been a valuable debate on a sector that has perhaps not had the attention that it deserves. It has modest employment at the moment but, as members have said, there is great potential for growth. I know that members on all sides of the debate are focused on actions to promote the use of Scotland’s natural resources in a way that is sensitive but has the potential for long-term employment opportunities.
I congratulate Brian Binnie of Denfind Stone, Peter Stewart of Tradstocks and Marcus Paine of Hutton Stone on their initiative in forming the Scottish Stone Group. I wish them good luck and every success—as do all members in the chamber, I am sure. As a Parliament, we are all here to support them and to help them to develop the successful Scottish stone sector.
13:25 Meeting suspended.
14:30 On resuming—