This year’s Stone Show and Hard Services exhibition event once again took place at London ExCel from 7-9 May. It co-located with UK Construction Week once again at ExCel, contributing to the exhibition’s reputable label. This year, it was seen as a special edition of the show by the organisers, QMJ Group as it marks the beginning of a new era, along with reflecting on the achievement of how far the show has evolved.
It was announced earlier this year that QMJ Group had recently been acquired by Media 10, known for other industry events such Clerkenwell Design Week which runs later in May, making The Stone Show and Hard Surfaces 2025 exhibition the final show managed under QMJ Group. Sam Patel, director of Global Markets at Media 10 said: “We’d like to extend a sincere thank you to Richard Bradbury and The QMJ Group for their dedication and vision in building the show into the respected platform it is today. We’re excited to take this respected event in a bold new direction.”
The Stone Show and Hard Surfaces event to relaunch under a new name: Stone & Surfaces. It’s described by the company to become “a reimagined and expanded show and will be known as an annual highlight for the global design community – bringing together the very best in natural stone hard surfaces, flooring wall coverings and worldwide surface innovation.”
At the show, there were various industry mainstays such as Mapei and FILA Solutions as well as associations including the Worktop Fabricators Federation and the Stone Federation. Mapei presented solutions for external stone installations with a focus on porcelain pavers. It also hosted an array of live demonstrations showcasing products from its Profilas and UltraCare ranges. There were also opportunities to observe Mapei’s installation systems including substrate preparation, waterproofing, tile adhesives, grouts and sealants for use with all types of stone finishes.
FILA Solutions, a third-generation family-owned company known for its professional care surface solutions for natural stone, porcelain, ceramic, wood, LVT, concrete and terracotta also made an appearance at the show. Owing to its R&D laboratory and a consolidated commitment to the environment, over 240 floor and wall covering manufacturers are said to recommend FILA products.
The Stone Federation made a return to the show with its Stone Federation “village,” providing a space exclusively for the Stone Federation Great Britain and its members. The organisation is the official trading body with over 100 years of supporting architects, interior designers and clients with materials and resources.
The Worktop Fabricators Federation also attended the show. It represents businesses that create large format slabs for surfaces from natural stone. Its mission is to act as a voice for the industry, offering advice and support while collaborating with suppliers and ensuring its members achieve profitability and maintain professional standards. Over the three days of this year’s show, there were live demonstrations showcased by different exhibitors. Among them were Mapei, Leica and Vetter.
Mapei demonstrated its Duo Maxi Pedestal System from Profilpas, highlighting its speed, durability and precision, while Leica Geosystems Ltd, showcased its Leica iCON iCS50 robotic digital templating tool and vPen, designed to measure up stone projects and create digital files for stone processing machines. Additionally, Vetter portrayed a glimpse of the future of the industry with its robotic cutting trailers.
The Heritage Hub proved to be a popular stop-off at the event, offering free specialist conversation advice from leading experts, inspiring case studies and sharing knowledge. The general theme of the show added emphasis on two trends which are growing in the UK. The first we’re seeing is the increase in neutral tones, rather than flamboyant colours as well as the growth in popularity for larger format tiles.
The second trend is the increasing concern for sustainability in the industry. There were several live seminars held over the course of the three days based on this topic. One of which was a presentation: Brick from a stone: the lower carbon choice, delivered by Marcus Paine, managing director of Hutton Stone. The seminar detailed how British stone bricks are helping the construction industry to deliver projects with a 75% lower embodied carbon impact than traditionally used clay-fired bricks.
Other sustainability seminars across the three days included Natural stone: the low carbon solution including delivering structural stone projects and bringing together some of the leading voices around the topic of using natural stone to decarbonise the built environment. Using the new standards to deliver sustainable projects, was also a topic that was discussed, exploring how the British Standards and guidelines can help architects’ designers and specifiers deliver more sustainable projects.
Additionally, Retrofit for the future: how heritage plays a key role in achieving net zero, was also portrayed at the show, including talks on how traditional approaches using stone are relevant in the modern low carbon conservation, the use of indigenous stone: researching embodied carbon of slate and The Birkin Building: a net zero retrofit exemplar.
Celebrations took place at The Stone Show and Hard Surfaces 2025 with the announcements of the winners for this year’s Natural Stone Show Awards 2025. This included the Industry Choice Award, the Stone Federation Architect Prize as well as the Emerging Talent Award: celebrating and inspiring the next generation of stone industry talent. The Industry Choice Award showcased a selection of award-winning projects with insights from architects with the winner selected through a voting system by the stone industry, while the Stone Federation Architect Prize, is an award that recognises outstanding student projects that showcase the use of natural stone.
Overall, the show was deemed to be another success at ExCel London. While it marks the end of an era for organisers of the event, QMJ Group, it’s only just the beginning for Media 10, set to take it over from 2026 under its new name: Stone & Surfaces. Visitors to the new show can expect new features in the future including live craftsmanship demonstrations, CPD- accredited learning opportunities and interactive zones. The event is set to return from 12-14 May 2026 at ExCel London, again co-located with UK Construction Week, where we’ll look forward to seeing what the industry has to offer.
www.stoneshow.co.uk
