An Angus stone supplier is growing its team after a new industry alliance started to pay dividends.
Last year, Denfind Stone of Monikie joined with Tradstocks and Hutton Stone to form the Scottish Stone Group.
The aim of the partnership is to promote Scottish stone as a product and to increase its use within local projects.
Denfind Stone owner Brian Binnie and Peter Stewart of Tradstocks have now made a major breakthrough after jointly winning a contract to provide stone for a new flood protection scheme currently being constructed by Balfour Beatty on Riverside Drive in Dundee.
Although the value of the contract has not been disclosed, Mr Binnie said it was the largest ever won by Denfind, which has been trading since 2004.
The company has its own stone reserve in Pitairlie Quarry at Monikie and also has in-house processing facilities to cut and shape its rock ahead of distribution.
Mr Binnie said the company had made three new full-time hires in readiness for the increased workload for the flood scheme project.
“After months of negotiations, the decision was made and approved, and it was agreed that a blend of Denfind Pitairlie Sandstone and Tradstock’s Dunevarig stone was to be used on the wall,” Mr Binnie said.
“ All the stone is processed within our processing facility at Monikie.
“This was a huge contract for Denfind Stone.
“As a result, we have employed more staff, all located within Angus, and also purchased additional machinery to enable us to meet the demands of the project.
The first load went to site a couple of weeks ago, and the stonemason on the project, Boyles Stonemasons, is making great progress and the wall is looking great.”