Volume house builders, for example, are no longer opting for the cheapest possible roof covering. They increasingly recognise the value-added properties of a secure, durable, aesthetically-satisfying and assured quality natural material.

But this quality reputation has been achieved by ongoing major investment at the company’s North Wales quarries and in experienced personnel.

Business has to be earned and at all stages of a given project, from the initial design meetings with architects and contractors through to the provision of on-site technical support. Welsh Slate is adamant that there is no room for complacency.

An integral strength of the case for specifying Welsh Slate is unquestionably the ability to provide project-specific roofing guarantees.

Welsh Slate offers a 100 year guarantee on its natural Welsh roofing slate, designed to last the lifetime of the building.

Meaningful guarantees remain at a premium and Welsh slate’s longevity can be measured by hard, practical evidence rather than anecdotal hear-say which is why tracing the tested slate back to the actual quarry source is vital.

To check the validity of a guarantee, simply request evidence of the oldest roof in the country of origin and/or ask for sight of the test documentation and confirmation that the slates were independently tested. Every individual Welsh Slate guarantee can systematically be traced back to production batch, operative, vehicle delivery and invoice number. Operating such a tight stage-by-stage control means additional cost but the peace of mind it affords is wholeheartedly embraced by specifiers, contractors and users.

In the last issue of Insight we discussed imported natural slate and where we look at Welsh natural slate.

The company Welsh Slate* explains that project specific guarantees are the users’ ultimate quality safeguard for natural slate.

Much has been said over the recent years about the problems of quality associated with imported slate. It is well documented that the Spanish quarries, in particular, sold a great deal of sub-standard slate into the UK. Fortunately that scenario is a thing of the past and imported slate is now contributing fully to the market growth fuelled by architects, designers, house builders and self-build consumers.

The greater the demand for natural materials the more success there will be for those producers capable of meeting and sustaining the stringent quality requirements and standards placed on them by the industry and more discerning buyers.

In 2002 the total UK slate market measured approximately 125,000 tonnes. Of this Welsh slate accounted for 20,000 tonnes; Spanish 85,000 tonnes; Chinese 8,000 tonnes – the remainder was divided between English, American, Canadian and Brazilian producers.

Quality remains the key issue and the intense competition for market share between imported slate suppliers is one to be monitored very closely. A possible price war could be looming which could drive down quality.

It is testament to the acknowledged premier quality of Welsh Slate that it continues to maintain market share whilst rising above the price-driven, lower end of the market.