In modern-day Australian architecture, the swimming pool has become as much of an architectural feature piece as a functional lifestyle choice to include in new home builds and to renovate to renew old abodes.

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock formed from sand, clay, and other minerals and comes in various colours and textures.  It is a perfect natural material for architectural use as it can be shaped, cut and sized to any specifications

With the choice of multiple sandstone colours (sandstone colour ranges) and its natural slip-resistant nature, sandstone has been a popular choice for homeowners and landscape designers for many decades.

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Around our nation, and especially in our major cities, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane among them, the vision of our architecture is filled with sandstone walls, cladding, capping, pyramid capping, profiled sandstone, decorative pieces, rosettes, quoins, the list goes on.

The contrast of heritage and contemporary buildings in the Sydney visual scape is now something we admire and celebrate. We must pay homage here to Sydney City Council. Governor Philip Tower was the first contemporary use of sandstone (a sandstone veneer instead of a pre-cast concrete panel). In reaction to it, the Council realised just how much sandstone was a part of the identity of Sydney.

“Sandstone is warm, inviting, and empathetic; everyone seems to empathise with sandstone and embrace it and love and take pleasure from it.”

Gary Hargreaves, Gosford Quarries

Woven into the history of these buildings is sandstone, and woven into their fabric is the heart, love and industry of the masons and experts of Gosford Quarries, reaching as far back as the early 1920s in sandstone projects and to contemporary Australia today.

Gosford Quarries has become the leading heritage sandstone restoration company, premier supplier of bespoke heritage pieces, and a sandstone company that has become an expert adviser on sandstone restoration projects with the remarkable 100-year history of knowledge & experience this company has gained over its centennial operation (1922-2022).

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Sandstone is a perfect and suitable material to be shaped from the imagineering of Australian Architects and Landscape Architects for commercial and residential sandstone projects.

Commercial Sandstone Projects & Architectural Options for CNC Profiled Sandstone Cladding

Australian Sandstone is capable of being cut and fashioned into an infinite array of smooth and curvature finishes through to split and textured finishes. ‘Sandstone Finishes’ are characterised by the texture or machine work done on the surface of the sandstone when it is shaped (profiled). Hence the origin of the industry term ‘profiled sandstone’.

In reality, any texture is possible on the surface of the sandstone. In fact, many of the CNC profiled designs we receive and execute could not have been achieved by any other material, testifying to the versatility of sandstone.

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Gosford Quarries is a large company with a true family approach. As Australia’s premier supplier, we operate professionally and efficiently in corporate capacities, and our staff treat each client with caring, friendly and reliable service.

Many historical landmarks feature this predominant colour, particularly the Australian War Memorial, hewn and built in the Wondabyne sandstone colour range, a building of such significance we have chosen it to present our 100 Year Centenary in our Centenary Logo for 2022.

Gosford Quarries was founded in 1922, its first processing plant in Gosford. In those days, the company was known as ‘'The Hawkesbury Sandstone Co.' The signature sandstone colour range of this era was ‘Gosford Grey’.

In January 2013, Gosford Quarries merged with Sarkis Bros. Sandstone, bringing together two of Australia’s most revered and experienced sandstone suppliers.

The Sarkis family has a rich heritage in stone, with their father, Antonios, founding a Limestone quarry in his homeland of Lebanon in the early 1970s. Stone processing has been an integral part of life for them ever since.

Gosford Quarries is now the primary supplier for the largest scale of civil and commercial works in Australia, consulting at the highest end of their market to Civil, commercial, and restoration partners.

Gosford Quarries are known as ‘The Sandstone People’. Generations of the employees now treat GQ like their family; they love, work, live & breathe sandstone in their lives.

Gosford Quarries is proud to be able to continue its traditions of quality and commitment to the Australian community established over the 99 preceding years of our Centenary.

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When considering landscaping design, and the use of natural materials, sandstone is an incredibly diverse product for structural landscaping when applied to sandstone retaining walls, sandstone fencing, sandstone paths fashioned from sandstone pavers (including crazy paving designs), sandstone steps and rise combos (natural stone steppers), Sandstone cladding, Sandstone feature walls, Sandstone edging and capping products, water features, ornamental ponds and other ornamental structures and bespoke sandstone artworks, etc.

*CNC Profiled products are bespoke products created using Gosford quarries exclusive CNC profiling machinery and state of the art technology. These bespoke profiled and artistic pieces involve considerable effort and processing time. Gosford Quarries are 100% Australian family owned and operated and with you from design to delivery - from quarry, to factory, to site so you can be guaranteed quality, honesty and efficiency with every project.

In fact, there are Government and Council directives where civil designers and council and commercial landscapers must fulfil the placement and use of artistic features, community features or community spaces. These are non-negotiable in projects of a certain type, size and scope.

A sandstone project can be a wonderful, rewarding and long-lasting monument to a designer’s memory, to artists involved, to the people and the community to which any structure of societal significance will belong.

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Landscaping Design for any public space is about creating spaces that enhance or encourage connection with nature and with community, that are both functional and beautiful.

Landscape Design creates meaningful places to visit, to have recreation or rest, or a combination thereof.

Sandstone, as a natural stone landscaping material, has become increasingly popular and specified in wider applications by landscape architects and civil designers in public space projects for Government and Councils throughout New South Wales, Melbourne and Brisbane. This also holds increasingly true in commercial landscaping projects as well.

In terms of environmental sustainability, this natural stone for commercial and civil landscaping projects is 100% recyclable, ‘green’, thermally stable and is environmentally suited to our climate as it is sourced locally from Gosford Quarries Australian Sandstone quarries.

As our sandstone supplies for landscaping projects are extracted from the same area at which it is installed, Gosford Quarries sandstone products blend aesthetically, beautifully and naturally when installed as landscaping log seats (in sandstone yarning circles for example), crazy paving, landscaping barriers, sandstone retaining walls, rumble strips in bike tracks, water features, accessible pathway borders and garden edging and garden features for play area spaces.

Sandstone blocks, logs or billets can be utilised to delineate landscaped areas where a landscaping designer wants to create a particular function or aesthetic as a cultural and/or natural in-situ experience to the visitor’s journey and experience in a public space; whether it is structured, formal or more ‘natural’ in design.

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