What can be said on the long-term development of natural stone as a building material?
It can be envisaged that natural stone is continuing its triumphal procession. Back to nature, and with it back to natural building materials, is unlikely to be only a short-term trend, but rather a logical consequence of a new lifestyle. With the increasing awareness for the environment, natural building materials will be the choice for an increasing number of people. The only outstanding problem is to convince the consumers, that natural stone is, overall, a competitive building material in terms of costs. Systematic awareness training is required in this area in the future. Unfortunately, natural stone traders are often lacking the means to conduct appropriate, contemporary marketing.
