Project description

Natural stone industry is an important business sector in South East Finland and Leningrad – St. Petersburg area. Stone from this area is used worldwide in construction projects and it is internationally recognized. It has been utilized for several important buildings worldwide since 18th century and especially in the construction of St. Petersburg and Helsinki. The area still holds a large potential for future economic growth.

The popularity of the stone particularly from this area, mainly rapakivi granite, is based on its visual appearance and good properties with high durability and long life cycle. Local natural stone has been successfully used for hundreds of years in the Nordic climate conditions, which is a good argument also for the future development of natural stone industry.

Utilization of the total potential of the area needs development actions such as making the reserve estimation more efficient thus reducing unnecessary quarrying and specifying the durability properties of the stones to be used in planning and for promotional purposes. Strengthening of the knowledge of material reserves in the area gives a long term basement for economic development. This knowledge is also important for the permitting and supervising authorities in increasing the sustainability of the future natural stone production together with companies. Innovations and ideas for the use of left-over stone would give possibilities to generate also new entrepreneurship reducing the environmental impact of the quarrying. This needs joining of the know-how resources and cooperation across the border.

The natural stone companies in this area are in the category of small and medium size enterprises and promoting innovations and business activity would help them to enhance sustainable and efficient stone production on both sides of the border and across the border. Another approach is to encourage networking and common development of new products especially for left-over stone that is at the moment quarried but not used in the primary production. The needs for making the use of stone more efficient and to increase its competitiveness are common for both countries.

The target groups of the project are companies working in the natural stone industry and trade as well as the authorities that are responsible for permitting of the quarrying. The target groups include also designers and architects that work in the construction sector and are responsible for planning of the future projects and renovation of the buildings. 

This project is co-funded by the European Union, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Finland