Community

Albion Stone has always taken its role within the community seriously and our corporate objectives include being sensitive and responding to social needs in the areas that we operate. We have built close links with our neighbours and have responded to their concerns.

Wire Saw

Albion Stone has supported the establishment of the Local Liaison Committees which provide a regular forum for discussions between our company and representatives from the local residents and the council. We conducted an extensive public consultation exercise in 1999 to establish the impacts our operations were having on the quality of life for residents in the local community. The results from this consultation determine the future course of our extraction operations. Cutting technologies have now replaced the blasting thereby eliminating the vibration noise and dust, and we have embarked on an on-going operation to take the entire extraction operation underground thereby limiting the disturbance to a few vehicle movements. As a result our complaints from local residents have reduced dramatically

The Portland Stone industry has a long tradition on the island and its people are rightly proud of their heritage. There has been particular interest in the new modern extraction techniques, in fact a degree of scepticism when we opened the first Portland Stone mine. In response Albion Stone have organised a series of open days for the general public to view our operations. We have also been involved with the local schools conducting Quarry visits that provide a practical learning experience embracing several subjects at once. We look to continue to support the Island's secondary school, Royal Manor School with their Art College status.

Albion Stone has a programme of investment into local charities and community projects. We have targeted projects that deliver environmental, educational or social benefits/improvements and can demonstrate a connection with our industry and our land. We have worked with the Portland Sculpture & Quarry Trust for a number of years. They have developed plans with assistance from Mineral Industry Sustainable Technology Programme to create ‘ Portland 's Living Quarry Project' and ‘Cultural Landscapes – Stories of the Earth' in Independent Quarry. It is intended that the regenerated quarry will become a significant cultural resource for the people of Portland and for regional, national and international visitors. The finished project will include a walk descending through geological time to the Jurassic period when Portland Stone was formed, an amphitheatre that can be used by the local schools, a stone maze and a sculpture by Peter Randall-Page all set in an area of restored, rich, limestone flora.

The company has also been involved with the local sporting clubs including supplying the kit for Portland Girls Football team and providing funding for a new fence at red Triangle Cricket Club. Together with The Crown Estate we constructed a new football pitch for Portland United Football Club. We also provide our stone to various local projects including benches and memorials on the Island .

New fence at the Cricket Pitch