Rebrand among highlights for CED Stone Group
As the CED Stone Group starts on what they hope will be another amazing year, the team looks back at some of last year’s highlights.
Sponsorships
In 2018, CED Stone Group was proud to have sponsored a variety of industry events. The group was headline sponsors of The SGD Awards, Pro Landscaper Business Awards and Futurescape at Sandown Park Racecourse, awards partner at the APL Awards, and once again we sponsored The International Award category at the BALI Awards.
Also sponsored was the Taking Care of Business Seminar by Alan Sargent and the Landscape Institute President’s Reception, and for something a bit different, sponsorship of a mini-series of RHS Chelsea episodes of The SodShow.
Exhibitions
The group’s Nationwide Depot teams attended many exhibitions across the country. The NSBRC, Self Build Live, Futurescape, Gardening Scotland, The Surface Design Show, Coles Nurseries Open Day and Pro Landscaper Live to name but a few. Exhibitions are an ideal way to showcase CED Stone products and for the team to share their expertise.
Big Changes
2018 was a big year for CED. The company turned 40 and launched new branding as CED Stone Group. Managing Director Giles Heap explained: “A lot of things can change in 40 years, and over time we’ve grown and evolved in many ways; we hope that this new and updated branding will help to reinforce how important our values are.”
The two distinct parts of the business, CED Stone Commercial and CED Stone Landscape, now have their own identities; ensuring they can communicate effectively with clients who all have very different needs.
Another development was the expansion into overseas territories with the setting up of CED Stone North America Inc in Montreal, Canada, to service all major cities across Canada and the United States.
Show Gardens
When the flower shows begin the CED Stone Landscape division gets really busy and in 2018 the team supplied materials for over 30 different show gardens! At Gardening Scotland, CED’s Castlecary Depot got hands on and created a show garden designed by Lynn Hill. The Garden Retreat - A place for living, featured the company’s Slate Tier Panel cladding, bespoke Caithness copes and Imperial Silver Grey Granite paving. It won Best Show Garden!
The team helped with ‘The Great Escape’, moved mountains, and even travelled ‘Through The Roots Of Time’. CED Stone’s products were seen at Harrogate Flower Show, Ascot Garden Show, Blenheim Palace Flower Show and at RHS Chelsea, Tatton, Cardiff, Chatsworth and Hampton Flower Shows. The Landscape division loves working with these talented people and is proud to have been chosen to help make incredible designs a reality.
Among the challenges faced were finding just the right Slatewood Planks for Briony Doubleday’s The Penumbra. The Langley Mill and West Thurrock Depots worked together to make sure Briony received exactly what she was looking for. Staff also worked hard to source a more suitable material for Alexandra Noble’s Health and Wellbeing Garden when Giles advised her that her original idea of using clay pavers for the tightly curving pathways would not work and suggested porphyry setts as an alternative. Another rather more unusual challenge was working on The RHS Hampton Court educational feature Evolve - Through The Roots of Time. Giles worked very closely with Dave Green and his team to make sure that the right materials would be used in the right way, in the correct parts of the garden, as it had to be accurate with the different geological time periods.
Education
Over the course of the year CED Stone Group hosted and attended several events aiming to educate, inform and inspire. Our experts attended hard landscaping training days at both Writtle University College and Brinsbury, Chichester College, where they delivered presentations and held Q&A sessions for the students. Giles Heap provided talks at The Landscape Event, The Surface Design Show and Pro Landscaper Live and Michael Heap provided a CPD for DCE Meet The Experts Conference.
In-house at CED's London East - West Thurrock Depot there were visits from Hadlow College and Writtle College students and the group's resident geologists gave The Essex Rock and Mineral Society the grand tour. The Scotland - Castlecary Depot welcomed students from SRUC Oatridge Campus and North West - Wirral Depot hosted a SGD Cluster Group meeting.
If you are planning on designing a garden for a flower show or event and would like to discuss the possibility of using hard landscaping products from CED Stone Landscape, or if you would like to arrange an educational visit to any of the nationwide Depots in 2019, contact the experts at CED Stone Group and they will be happy to share their passion for natural stone.
Ends
CED Stone Group
Tel: 01708 867 237
Email: sales@cedstone.co.uk
Web: https://www.cedstone.co.uk
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