London received a residential building whose supporting structure consists of more than 1,000 tons of stone - Ten floors with no steel reinforcement and no concrete core

The construction consists of 572 pillars and beams made of volcanic stone from Sicily and Norway. Individual elements are up to five meters long, and are connected with steel connectors and dowels, with the application of epoxy mortar.

Architects and engineers have been investigating the possibilities of using stone as a construction material with a smaller carbon footprint for 15 years. According to their analysis, the use of stone from local quarries can significantly reduce emissions associated with construction, and in some cases the carbon footprint of an above-ground structure can be reduced by up to 95%.

One of the reasons for choosing stone is the possibility of its application in higher buildings. Unlike timber, whose use in high-rise buildings is limited by British fire regulations, the designers believe that the system developed for Petra Heights could also be applied to a 30-story skyscraper. According to their calculations, such a building could reduce emissions by about 80% compared to a steel-framed building, at no additional cost.

The Petra Heights complex includes a total of 22 apartments and a glass-fronted shop on the ground floor. Due to the specific shape of the plot, between the railway station and the busy thoroughfare, the building is divided into three units, while the highest floors are set back to reduce the visual mass of the buildings in relation to the surrounding protected zones.

The elevator shaft is made of prefabricated stone modules, which were placed on top of each other. It was erected in just a day and a half, while the adjacent installation shaft was built from 2,400 stone bricks.

Designers hope that this approach could serve as a model in future housing construction in the UK, where 1.5 million new homes are expected to be built by 2029. Their aim is to show that stone can be a sustainable alternative to concrete and steel in multi-storey residential buildings, and not just a decorative material for facades.