Higher bills rock Caithness Stone

A FIRM that supplied stone for the Scottish Parliament building and the Belfast Concert Hall has called in the administrators after succumbing to increased costs and competition.

Wick-based Caithness Stone Industries was founded in 1999 and employs about 30 people. It turned over more than £3 million last year but joint administrator Iain Fraser, of RSM Tenon, said that heavy investment had landed it with “severe and unsustainable cash flow problems”.

He added: “We will now undertake a thorough review, the results of which will determine the next steps for the administration.”

Mined for more than 200 years, Caithness stone has been used around the world, including in Boston and New York.