Natural Stone Specialist September edition
Consultant Barry Hunt answers readers questions

Question: What is the best way to get rid of chewing gum from stone surfaces?

"The latest figures from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs state that some authorities spend as much as £200,000 a year dealing with the problem of chewing gum and that about £5million is spent across the UK.

There are no chemicals that could be used easily and safely to remove chewing gum, and even if there were, the costs of using them would be prohibitive. Freezing gum to make it brittle for easy removal is a well known process but it is not practical in large streetscapes where, again, the time and cost would be prohibitive. By far the most effective process I have seen used is a high pressure, hot water jet-washing, using water 80 to 90 degrees. The hot water softens the gum while the force of the water peels it from the surface. And as the released gum and surrounding area is wet, the gum is unable to stick back down and is simply vacuumed up."


Natural Stone Specialist

How will the Decorative Antiques Fair do in the current economic storm?

the Decorative Antiques Fair, Battersea Park London

The current financial outlook is bleak, as various pillars of world finance seem to be collapsing daily and taking with them many of the high-earning younger generation who have previously spent big money at the Decorative Antiques and Textile Fair.

Everyone is questioning how the autumn event, the last of the year, will stand up when it returns to Battersea Park, London SW11, from September 30 to October 5.

All exhibitors are hoping that its appeal to decorators, private clients, the American trade and a clutch of celebs will help to retain its popularity. Whether it overrides the current economic woes will be interesting to see.

If the fairs world is about to take a hammering much of the rest of the economy is experiencing, then the decorative fair stands a better chance of success than most of weathering the storm. Certainly the exhibitors seem to think so, or at least the 12 new exhibitors. Other exhibitors include Retrouvius and Guy Trench of Antiques by Design.

The Decorative Antiques and TextilesFair

Harry and Paul and Salvo

Above: Paul Whitehouse and Laura Solon outside Workspace in Chiswick

Chiswick, London UK - HARRY Enfield and Paul Whitehouse filmed The Chocolatier, one of the sketches in last week's episode of the BBC comedy show Harry and Paul, outside the Salvo office at the Workspace Centre in Chiswick.
BBC Harry & Paul episode 3

Cuddy demolition profits up, turnover down

Neath, Wales - CUDDY Demolition increased profits from £360k (half year Jul-Dec 2006) to £518k (half year Jul-Dec 2007) on turnover down from £25m to £21m.
Cuddy demolition in Mansfield in July 2008 on YouTube

How can I Recycle or Reuse This

Above: an idea of how to change your old jeans into a new pair of slippers


How can I Recycle This gives creative ideas for reusing and recycling random stuff. The site is said to have started from a bowl of pistachio nut shells;

"After we gorged ourselves on their lovely innards, they, the shells, just sat there, looking useful and versatile - but we no idea what we could possibly do with them. Just throwing them on the compost heap seemed a waste - all the effort to make them tough and solid, and here we were just hoping they’d rot back down to mulch before the potatoes needed earthing up. When we thought about it, we were in the same position with lots of things: leftover bits of food, old household items, empty containers of all shapes and sizes… And so this site was born, " said the site curators.

Items are added every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, giving interesting ideas of how to reuse or recycle almost everything including catalogues, pickle vinegar, shot glasses and heeled shoes. Once the item has been added other people post their ideas of how to reuse or recycle the item, which gives an eclectic mix of ideas.

How can I Recycle This

London Design Festival

Above: 'Captivate Lula Dot' by Lucy Norman who is part of [RE]Design, she tries to promote reuse and resource awareness by involving its owner in the collection and creativity of waste, as the user can select different bottle tops and change the lighting colour and pattern.


Above: [RE]Design chair and table made from covered electrical wire.


Above: Part of the 100% Sustainable section at % Design showing a model of sustainable resources to try to promote debate.


Above: Walter Raes wearable & design art


Above: A collection of well designed and sustainable pieces from The Greenhaus

London Design Festival, Across London UK

London Design festival saw many exciting things happening across the city including 100% Design at Earls Court (18 - 21 September 2008) and Tent London in Brick Lane (18 - 21 September 2008).

100% Design has more than 450 exhibitors showcasing their latest ranges. Lighten Up, launched at this year's 100% Design London, its an innovative sustainable lighting exhibition from [re]design. It looks beyond the bulb to explore what lighter lighting could mean, from energy and material use to make greener living aspirational and achievable. [re]design is a social enterprise that propagates sustainable actions through design, and promotes products that are genuinely good, attractive and sustainable innovative designs. Also, at the show was Stephen Johnson who exhibited at this years Salvo fair his work incorporates ornamental kitsch pieces from the home.

Within the show there is a specialist section called 100% Sustainable that looks at Models of Sustainable Design. The team have created a miniaturised world presented as a ‘00 scale’ model that asks questions of the viewer and deliberately sets us scenarios, which raise discussion and debate that can be discussed in the many workshops in the lecture theater.

Tent London takes place in the Truman Brewery, a vast reclaimed industrial site in Brick Lane, showing art and architecture, vintage and contemporary design by emerging and established designers from around the world. The interesting stand of Walter Raes shows, "Wearable design art made from household and industrial cast-offs, retrieved from society's discarded and often everyday objects. I transform ironing boards into sheath-style dresses and mop heads into coats," said Walter Raes. Also showcasing at the event was The Greenhaus, who create beautiful, practical products for the home whilst still embracing the key principles of sustainability, including the re-use and recycling of materials and low energy footprint both from manufacture and usage.

Following on from the success of Circa's last year, Tent has a section dedicated to vintage design. It has high quality vintage pieces from a selection of dealers for both the public and trade to buy.


100% Design

Tent London

Walter Raes

[RE]Design

The Greenhaus

Atleast Someone is making millions

Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, Damien Hirst auction at Sotheby's London

Damien Hirst auction at Sotheby's surpassed the 65million target he had set himself for the first day of his two day sale. One of the first items under the hammer made double its estimate of £4million-£6million. The Kingdom is a shark in formaldehyde eventually sold for £9.5million. The Golden Calf, said to be the highest of the sale with an estimate of £8million-£12million, sold for £10.3million. The Black Sheep with the Golden Horn, another animal in formaldehyde, sold for £2.6million.

Highlights on Tuesday included The Dream, a foal in formaldehyde inside a steel and glass tank which sold for 2.3 million pounds, and a butterfly piece called Reincarnated, for 1.6 million, more than twice its 700,000 pound top estimate.

After the two day sale Damien Hirst had set a new record, his work fetched some 111 million pounds (198 million dollars, 140 million euros). The auction, entitled "Beautiful Inside My Head Forever," broke new ground as the first time an artist has sold a body of work directly, bypassing art galleries who charge commission of up to 50 percent of the sale price. It also smashed the record for a sale dedicated to one artist, Sotheby's said, beating the 20 million dollars for 88 works by Pablo Picasso sold in 1993.

It proved there is no shortage of art buyers even in the current economic gloom, which hit new depths after the collapse of US investment giant Lehman Brothers plunged the financial markets into turmoil.

At the end of the sale Hirst, 43, said, "I'm totally exhausted and amazed that my art is selling while banks are falling. I guess it means that people would rather put their money into butterflies than banks - seems like a better world today to me."

"The sale has broken major new ground and set several new and important benchmarks... Beautiful Inside My Head Forever is undoubtedly the sale of the century to date," said Sotheby's managing director Patric Van Maris.

The world's most talked-about artist said afterwards: "I think the market is bigger than what anyone knows. I love art and this proves I'm not alone and the future looks great for everyone."

Alan Cristea, a dealer,in orignal and contemporary prints said, "The sale was unprecedented but I'm not concerned it will change much. I represent a lot of artists, but only a few artists, if any could do what Damien has done. "Damien's celebrity factor helps prices soar. It was good for the market that the sale did well as it could have eroded confidence. But it won't set a huge precedent and we won't see prices doubling in the next round of auctions now that the Hirst sale did well."

Sotheby's

AFP

Times Online

Treasure Trove

Period House, October Edition
Salvo fair 2008, Knebworth Hertfordshire






SALVO are pleased to let everyone know that a double page review of the Salvo Fair 2008 has been featured in the October edition of Period House magazine.

This is the start of a series of collaborations between Colleen Gowlett of Salvo and the magazine to promote the salvage trade and using reclaimed materials. The features will include fireplaces, doors, pavers, wrought iron gates and baths. If you feel that your company would be ideal to use in any of these articles please contact Colleen on the email address bellow.

Crane's Danilov bells are returned to Russia

Moscow Russia - SEVENTEEN bells from the St Danilov Monastery in Moscow have been returned by Harvard University. The peal or zvon, which is said to be the third finest in Russia, was used to herald the commencement of football matches at Harvard. Russian bells are dead hung with a system of tension ropes used to create the very distinctive Russian bellringing style (see video).

Charles Crane*, was the son and inheritor of the US Crane & Co radiator company, who had government connections and involvement with revolutionary movements in China, Slavic countries and Russian Bolsheviks, from whom he bought the Danilov bells for their scrap value when he heard they were to be demolished in 1930. He moved the bells tothe USA and donated them to Harvard where they were installed in the tower of Lowell House, a student dormitory.

"Monks have tried to recover the bells since the 1980s," Deacon Roman, one of the curators of the project to return the bells to the monastery, told Rossiiskaya Gazeta (Russian Gazette). "Harvard had a request but replied that it would be too difficult to take them down from the tower. Also, the university administration said the bells had become an important part of the campus and that the students had grown to love them. The biggest bell weighs 12 tons and they were worried that the bronze casting could be harmed during shipment." Their reluctance was assuaged with money and an offer by the Russians ti supply replicas. to part with the bells, Harvard was honored to see them returned to the St. Danilov Monastery, one of the cradles of Russian Orthodoxy, and glad to welcome a replica from the Vera factory in Voronezh, via the company known as Blagovest Bells.

* Charles Crane, a democrat and president of Crane & Co 1912-14, made twenty-three visits to Russia between 1890 and 1930. Richard Crane, his son and president of Crane & Co 1915-38, was assistant to Secretary of State Robert Lansing and US ambassador to Czechoslovakia 1918-21. According to the former ambassador to Germany William Dodd, Charles Crane "did much to bring on the Kerensky revolution which gave way to Communism." Crane returned to the United States when the Bolshevik Revolution had been completed and, although a private citizen, was given State Department reports of its progress, eg December 11, 1917 "Copy of report on Maximalist uprising for Mr Crane." which was sent by Maddin Summers, U.S. consul general, Moscow. Charles Crane was a friend and backer of Woodrow Wilson, and traveled to Russia in mid-1917 with the American Communist Lincoln Steffens, who was in touch with both Woodrow Wilson and Leon Trotsky, whose US passport was issued at the orders of Wilson. This suggests a link between Crane and Trotsky. Charles Crane's father Richard Teller Crane founded the firm of Crane & Co brass founders in Chicago in 1855, among whose early products were bells. By 1859 the firm was supplying steam heating valves for prisons and court houses. Crane & Co is still extant with a turnover of $2bn and 12,500 employees.

Entrepreneur Magazine Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurs By Anthony Hallett

Noahide News 326

Bells Ring in Spiritual Rebirth

Vera LLC, of Voronezh, founded 1989, the first to cast bells after Perestroika

Moscow News - St. Danilov Bells Return

Salvo Guide to London

Salvo Guide London & Region, London UK

THE new free pocket Salvo Guide to London and Region 2008 was published last week and will be available from green shops, trade fairs and other events in and around London . . . so keep your eyes peeled.

If you can't wait to pick one up then please send a first class self addressed envelope to Salvo Llp, 10 Barley Mow Passage, Chiswick, W4 4PH and we will post one to you.

*****Birmingham and Midlands next!*****

THE next handy A6 pocket Salvo Guide will be for Birmingham and the Midlands 2009/10 is now under way. Please contact Colleen at Salvo if you would like your business to be in it. Emails and postcards calling for entries will be sent to businesses throughout the region soon. Dealers, allied craftspeople and makers of authentic replicas will be invited to apply for an entry. The copy deadline for advertising and entries is October 31st. The catchment area extends to Gloucestershire in the south, Herefordshire in the west, Staffordshire in the north, and Northants to the east.

Salvo Guide PDF

2012 bosses deny demolition plan

2012 Olympic Games, London UK

London 2012 bosses have denied they are seriously considering a plan to flatten the Olympic Stadium after the Games.

Reports have suggested the £525m venue could be demolished and replaced by a Premier League football ground.

But the London Development Agency (LDA), the body responsible for the post-2012 use of the site, has moved quickly to play down these claims. A spokesman for London Mayor Boris Johnson said Johnson was "not aware of any plans to demolish the stadium". He added that the mayor remained committed to finding a viable, long-term use for all the permanent Olympic venues and wanted "athletics to be part of that legacy".

The favourite option remains converting the 80,000-capacity venue into a 25,000-seat stadium with an athletics track and at least one "anchor tenant", a football or rugby team capable of filling the venue on a regular basis. A guaranteed revenue stream is crucial to the venue's future as no local or national authority wants to be responsible for the upkeep of a rarely used athletics centre.

Initial talks with West Ham United about a move to Stratford collapsed early on over the issue of the athletics track and its use for international events, and Tottenham Hotspur, the other Premier League side close enough to be a realistic candidate, appear to favour redeveloping their current home. Chelsea have also been touted as possible future tenants although there seems to be little substance to those claims as they want to stay in west London.

Salvo Guide PDF

Lassco, Three Pigeons Milton Common

Late summer best-seller at architectural salvage dealers Lassco's Oxfordshire branch is a large collection of weathered Mediterranean storage jars of a type known by the Greek word 'Pithoi'.

Thought to originate in Crete and in use as early as the Bronze Age, these ceramic jars found favour throughout the Mediterranean and over the centuries have served many purposes. They were mainly used to store oil, wine or grain. but since some are tall as a man they were even used as coffins when wood was in short supply.

The collection at Lassco Three Pigeons in Milton Common comes from a private source and most are early 20th century, although a few are earlier.

They are still used for storage but also as decorative garden features. You'll be hard pressed to find a designed garden in a lifestyle magazine without a pithoi or two dotted about. I am told they make ideal waterbutts. But despite the trend towards green and Lassco's dedication to recycling, I am assured they are not being bought as coffins - at least a far as we know!

(Taken from the ATG 6th September 2008)


Lassco

Rare Trees

Above: CAMELLIA JAPONICA de La Reine, colour white, Cépée 3 troncs, h: 500 w: 300 cm, Estimation 7 000 - 9 000 €


Artcurial, Rare and Ornamental Specimens of Trees
Hotel Dassault, Domaine des Rochettes en Anjou

Contact Information: Sophie Peyrache, Phone: +33 1 42 99 20 41
Viewing Information, 1-3 October 2008, 11am-5pm, 4 October, 11am-4pm, Domaine des Rochettes, F-49420 La Prévière

Artcurial

Listed Property Show 2009- NEW salvage enclave

Olympia, London, UK, 21-22 February 2009 - www.listedpropertyshow.co.uk

With the great success of the 2008 show the Listed Property Show are already taking bookings for 2009. At the next show, Salvo will have a stand along with other architectural salvage and antique businesses. Salvo's stand will promote the salvage trade in general, along the services that Salvo offers, and could incorporate notice boards or stock items from other businesses if the need arises. Relevant craftspeople willing to demonstrate their skills at the show may be able to receive free space.

Now preparing for it's third year, this exhibition provides owners of listed buildings with access to the products and services of over 150 specialist suppliers.

Run by The Listed Property Owners Club, the event will provide practical advice, ideas and inspiration for current and prospective owners of period properties.

BOOKING - To book a space in the salvage enclave, please call a member of the LPS team on 01795 844939. Booking form to follow on the blog soon. To speak to Salvo about the Salvo stand or salvage enclave please call 01225 422300 or 020 8400 6222.

Listed Property Show
Olympia, London, UK
Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 February 2009
Open Saturday 10-5 and Sunday 10-4, Admission free.
Build up from Friday 20th at noon
Break down Sunday 22nd after 4pm
Tel: 01795 844939
www.listedpropertyshow.com

Demo company and director fined over accident

Bagshot, Surrey UK - WOOLRIDGE Ecotec, a demolition company from Bagshot, was fined £15,000 with £5,000 costs in September 2008, for breaching health and safety regulations after an accident when electrician Barry Murrell fell 15 feet and broke his pelvis in 2005. Nicholas Anderson, one of the company's directors, was fined £5,000 with £1,650 costs after he also pleaded guilty to breaching the regulations. In March 2005 Mr Murrell stepped on some steel sheet material that covered a hole during a demolition job at the former Pirelli Cables factory in Erith. He broke his pelvis, fractured his right hip, shattered a hip socket and broke a rib. HSE inspector Lorain Charles said, "The risks of falls from height on this demolition project and the measures needed to control those risks had been identified on more than one occasion. The director, Mr Anderson had personal knowledge of the circumstances surrounding or leading to this accident and he failed to take obvious steps to prevent it." [Contracts Journal Sept08

London Olympics - reuse and recycle?

London Olympic 2012, UK

For the 2008 Beijing Olympics China built twelve permanent and eight temporary venues and refurbished eleven others at a cost on $1.9 billion according to the city government. China plans to reuse its venues. Du Wei Vice President of the Beijing Olympic Economy Research Association said, "The management companies will immediately open them up for public use."

A little closer to home Salvo subscriber Keith Edmonds from Oxfordshire brought a selection of stone figures to Salvo Fair 2008 which were rescued from the clearance site of the Beijing Olympics. Among the figures were Buddhas and other Buddhist related carved stone work including steles. Keith Edmonds said, "We believe they were unearthed after being buried by Revolutionary Guards in the 1950's. These were young activists who were instructed to get rid of any signs that didn't conform to communism and most statues were destroyed or buried. We heard about these figures from contacts of Ray Poole as he is a keen enthusiast of Buddhist statues."

London put sustainability at the heart of its bid for the 2012 games, framed by the concept of 'Towards a One Planet Olympics', which was derived from the work of WWF/BioRegional. Now that the 2008 Beijing Olympics have drawn to a close, we ask what will London do differently?

London 2012 intends to focus on five key areas: combating climate change; reducing waste; enhancing biodiversity; promoting inclusion and improving healthy living. To ensure the Olympic planners stick to their promises, an independent scrutiny body Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 has been set up to monitor its progress.

Dan Epstein Head of Sustainable Development & Regeneration said, "Unlike previous games, our Olympic park development is recognised as an opportunity to regenerate an area and progress with reusing and recycling materials. For example, over 90 per cent of site clearance and site demolition material was either reused or recycled. This included 20,00 tonnes of ballast, 4,000 tonnes of crushed concrete, 620 tonnes of tarmac and 180 tonnes of steel. A further 3,250 yards of track has been reused as have fourteen switch crossing units."

The ODA have recently reported that they are beating the target to reclaim 90 per cent of demolition materials for recycling or reuse. "Wherever possible we will not dump waste, we will reuse and recycle it instead. Reclaiming materials to reuse in designs of venues and parklands, recycling complete buildings to be re-assembled off site, using materials with a high recycled content, ensuring the temporary facilities are designed and fitted out so they can be taken down and reused afterwards, and as a priority, leasing equipment, such as temporary seating rather than making new."

"To date the following have been reclaimed: 80 Lampposts, 160 manhole covers and 187 gulleys, 18 square meters of clay and slate roof tiles, 2 tonnes of red bricks, 117 tonnes of york stone, 100 tonnes of cobble/granite, 41 tonnes of paving bricks and 35 tonnes of paving slabs, 1,200m of granite kerb and 4,200m of concrete kerbs. These will be stored and then used to create aesthetic and practical features for the park including paths, paving and paving inlays, benches, planters and lighting and water features," said the ODA.

A practical example of a project was at a new 12 track railway siding at Orient Way, used to park the extra trains for morning and afternoon peak hour that are not needed at other times of the day. 99 per cent of the demolition and site clearance waste from the Orient Way project was recycled or reused. In addition 3,250 yards of track was lifted and reused, which includes; 2,070 concrete railway sleepers, 558 tonnes of steel rail and 54 tonnes of iron railway castings.

Salvo has seen very few items reclaimed from the Olympic site coming up on salvoweb.com. Jason Davies from Architectural Forum, Islington said, "When I visited the Olympic site in Straftford I saw unbelievable warehouses that the workers were just driving straight through. I also enquired several times about a late Victorian red brick house on the site from which the soft red bricks, slates, floorboards, doors and tiles could have all been reclaimed, but I never heard anything back, so I would be keen to know what exactly they have reclaimed."

Janine from Ashwell Timber Recycling said, "We had been offered some doors - storage only, but other than that we have not been offered any timber from the Olympic site. However, we have supplied nearly one hundred reclaimed fenders made from greenheart, a tropical hardwood, for the new lock gates to the Prescott Channel. This is the supply route for the materials arriving via barges on the waterways. The fenders were cut from piles saved from the dismantled Rainham Power Station jetty back in 2003."

However, the ODA do not categorise what is reused and what has been recycled. When asked to comment on exact amounts of materials that has been reused or is intended for reuse the ODA and Dan Epstein failed to respond. Therefore, although London 2012 Olympic Games strategy should be applauded for being a 'sustainable' event it is impossible to know the breakdown of what exactly is being reused. Certain members of the trade have commented on the lack of materials becoming available for reclaiming from the Olympic site.


London 2012 Olypics