Stone, durability and reuse: a conversation with Artorius Faber

The materials we choose say a lot about how we value what we build, and few of them repay that attention like stone.

So we sat down with Edward Smith of Artorius Faber to talk about one of the oldest building materials there is, and one of the more underrated when it comes to sustainability.

Watch: Edward Smith of Artorius Faber and Sean Ronnie Hill discuss how natural stone’s durability, reuse and low embodied carbon help shape more resilient buildings

The value of a slow material

Edward's starting point is that good sustainability tends to be quiet. Stone doesn't follow trends; chosen well and used with care, the right stone in the right place will outlast fashions, owners and the short-term thinking that shapes so much of what we build. In an industry geared to speed and disposability, a material measured in centuries is a useful corrective.

Nothing wasted

What struck me most was how little Artorius Faber throws away. They quarry their own stone in the UK, under the strict planning rules that govern extraction, and then use every part of it. A large block becomes paving, then setts, then cobbles, and finally gravel, the same stone shaping a place from the street to the doorstep in different forms. It is a genuinely circular use of a natural material, not as a slogan but as ordinary practice.

The carbon that gets overlooked

Architects talk a great deal about embodied carbon, but stone's advantage often gets missed. Compared with energy-intensive concrete or heavily processed brick, natural stone is relatively low in carbon: quarried, cut and placed with very few additives. Edward pointed to projects where solid stone elements, lintels, steps, even structural pieces, remove the need for concrete altogether. Individually small decisions, but repeated across a building they add up.

Old stone, new life

There is something grounding about walking on paving that has already lasted centuries. Edward talked about Bath, where reclaimed sandstone has been lifted, re-trimmed and given another life underfoot. Good stone doesn't wear out so much as wait for its next use, whether that is a street, a threshold or a courtyard. Reuse is part of how the material has always worked.

Tradition, with some innovation

Stone has a reputation for being heavy, costly and slow, the opposite of a fast build, and Edward's team is working to change that. They are experimenting with thinner cuts, better saw technology and improved water recycling, and even the waste finds a use, with stone dust mixed into mortar to replace less sustainable products. The aim is to keep stone doing real structural work, load-bearing and visible, rather than being reduced to a thin cladding or crushed for aggregate.

Building to last

The point that stayed with me from the conversation wasn't technical. It was that materials aren't only products. Private clients often understand this instinctively; they think about what they are passing on and what will still be there long after them. Developers and architects don't always. Specifying stone is a small way of saying that a building is meant to last, and that is worth saying more often.

This is the same instinct that runs through our retrofit work: build with materials and structures that endure, use less, and avoid the waste of having to do it all again in twenty years. Responsibly quarried and well specified, stone is one of the clearest examples of building lightly and building to last at the same time.

If you are considering a project and want to build with materials chosen to last, we'd be glad to talk it through.

→ Email us at architects@risedesignstudio.co.uk
→ Or call the studio on 020 3947 5886

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Artorius Faber — British Stone Specialists
→ Visit: www.artoriusfaber.com
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