At Norstone, we are proud to see how our stone cladding products are used to elevate homes and landscapes across the UK. A recent project in Kent showcases the versatility and beauty of our cladding systems, with two distinct applications creating a truly striking result.

This private family residence is a large, modern property finished mainly in white render, surrounded by landscaped gardens. The homeowners wanted to add natural texture and architectural detail that would both complement and enhance their home’s design. By selecting two Norstone cladding ranges – Aksent™ Platinum Lavastone panels and Slimline (SL) Rock Panel™ Charcoal cladding – they achieved a bold, contemporary aesthetic that transforms both the house frontage and the garden setting.

While the house itself is enhanced by Aksent™, the landscaped gardens make use of another Norstone product: the Slimline Rock Panel™ system in Charcoal.

The homeowners created a substantial stone cladding garden wall that frames the transition between two levels of the garden. Alongside wide stone steps, the cladding defines the boundary between the upper and lower areas, creating both a functional retaining wall and a stunning architectural feature.

The natural splitface texture of the Charcoal SL panels contrasts beautifully with the sleek white render of the stair walls, producing a modern, layered look that ties together hard landscaping, greenery and architecture.

Norstone’s Slimline Rock Panel™ collection is designed to provide the same quality and craftsmanship as our flagship XLS panels, but with a lighter, thinner profile and a more accessible price point. Originally developed for commercial projects, the SL range has become increasingly popular with homeowners thanks to its flexibility and affordability.

Advantages of the SL range include:

• Slim Profile: At just 15–30mm thick and around 48–55 kg/m², SL panels reduce structural weight.
  
• Economical: Lower material usage means significant cost savings without compromising on quality.
• Handmade Craftsmanship: Each panel is assembled from 15–18 carefully selected stone strips, ensuring unique texture and natural variation.
  
• Reduced Waste: Thanks to the modular panel system and interlocking design, installation waste is typically under 10%.
• Versatility: Perfect for external walls, boundary walls, landscaping and garden features.

In this Kent project, the Charcoal colourway was the ideal choice to provide a striking contrast to the property’s render and paving, while complementing the lush garden surroundings.

The most dramatic feature of the project is the use of Norstone Aksent™ Platinum Lavastone panels and corners on the central section of the front elevation. Running from the base of the house right up to the roofline, the stone cladding creates a striking stone cladding feature wall that defines the property’s façade.

This central column of stone incorporates the porch area, making it a focal point on arrival and giving the house an immediate sense of scale, solidity and prestige. Against the smooth, bright white render of the rest of the building, the textured silver-grey tones of the Lavastone provide a perfect contrast, adding depth and interest to the modern architecture.

The Aksent™ range is distinct from traditional stacked stone cladding in its design and finish. Made from natural lava stone, each panel is precision-cut and arranged to form a modular tile system that delivers clean lines and a refined, contemporary aesthetic.

Key benefits of the Aksent™ panels include:

• Volumetric Design: Subtle 3D depth variations create shadow and movement across the stone surface.
• Durability: Lava stone is a naturally robust material, ensuring long-lasting performance in all weather conditions.
• Ease of Installation: Supplied as modular panels with corner pieces, the system simplifies fitting while maintaining a seamless finish.
• Sophisticated Colour Options: Platinum, Ebony and Silver Grey finishes allow for versatile design choices.

In this Kent home, the Platinum finish was the perfect choice, delivering a cool, elegant tone that balances the crisp white render. The result is a feature wall that exudes contemporary style while grounding the property in natural materials.

What makes this project especially interesting is the way two different Norstone ranges were applied to create cohesion across the property.

• On the house, the sleek Aksent™ panels deliver a refined, architectural statement.
• In the garden, the rugged Slimline Rock Panels add natural drama and ground the landscaping.

Together, these applications demonstrate the breadth of design possibilities with Norstone cladding. Whether used as a stone cladding feature wall on a façade or as a stone cladding garden wall in landscaping, the result is always one of elegance, durability and timeless appeal.

Projects like this highlight why stone cladding remains such a popular design choice. With Norstone’s range of systems, homeowners, architects and designers can achieve:

• Architectural Focus Points: Bold features that define entrances, façades and key spaces.
• Texture and Depth: Natural stone creates shadows, patterns and tactile surfaces that enrich modern design.
• Indoor and Outdoor Flexibility: From fireplaces and interior feature walls to garden landscaping and exterior façades.
• Ease of Installation: Pre-assembled panels and matching corners ensure efficient, precise fitting.
• Durability and Longevity: Natural stone that withstands time and climate.

For the Kent homeowners, choosing Norstone provided not only visual impact but also the reassurance of a product designed to last and perform.

The completed home is a showcase of how natural stone cladding can transform a property. The Platinum Aksent™ feature wall makes a bold architectural statement on the front elevation, while the Charcoal Slimline garden wall frames the landscaped grounds with dramatic effect.

Together, they balance refinement with rugged natural character, creating a cohesive look that complements both the house and its surroundings.

At Norstone, we are delighted to see how our stone cladding ranges have been used to such powerful effect in this project, and we look forward to inspiring many more homeowners and designers across the UK.

Stone cladding is one of the most effective ways to add value, character and beauty to a property. The Kent family home demonstrates how combining different Norstone ranges – the sleek modernity of Aksent™ Platinum Lavastone with the textured depth of Slimline Charcoal Rock Panels – can elevate both architecture and landscaping.

Whether you’re planning a stone cladding feature wall to transform your home’s façade or a stone cladding garden wall to enhance outdoor living, Norstone offers the perfect solution.

Coombe House, London. A 12-month full makeover of a London private property, this transformation is incredible and supremely well executed. Norstone XLS Rock Panel™ stone cladding is used throughout the build (internally and externally) as shown in the gallery photos, and it has been used as a design signature feature to the front façade, adding great kerb appeal to the property.

One of our most popular and versatile stone cladding products; the subtle colour spectrum from light grey to burnt orange makes it suitable for both modern and traditional interiors and is also very widely used in gardens and landscaping. Each stone cladding panel is hand assembled after being precision cut by machine - this ensures ease of installation and the unique individual appearance of each ochre blend XLS rock panel.
 
The high-quality natural stone used on each and every cladding panel ensures that the colourful and warm palette is ever-changing whilst giving a timeless look that is inviting and crucially, low maintenance.
 
Choosing a quality Norstone® cladding solution ensures that a building’s appearance will remain beautiful and impressive for years to come. XLS Rock Panel™ - it stands the test of time.
 
Don’t accept cheap, inferior substitutes, if it matters, choose Norstone® stone cladding.

The versatility and ease of installation of Norstone stone cladding is something that is highly valued by architects and designers from all spectrums of interior and exterior design industries and today we are proud to showcase a very attractive use of Norstone SLIMLINE (SL) Rock Panel™ cladding.

Aspen Lodges Ltd is a small company based in Wickersley who serve the South Yorkshire region. They specialise in the design and build of unique timber framed and SIP panel garden buildings. 

The Ochre slimline stone panel cladding, supplied by Norstone, was specified on this building along with the other high specification materials to create a stunning garden room and a nod towards the mid-century modern style.

Aspen Lodges would be happy to discuss your next garden room project and can be contacted on 07447000079.

Or you can view their gallery of additional projects at: www.aspenlodges.co.uk.

As the gallery above demonstrates, our cladding works beautifully with the timber and the large glass frontage, delivering a stunning look and with Norstone's unique fingerjointed corners, the installation process for wrapround corners is a straightforward process.

If you are considering an outdoor garden building, we hope you have been inspired!

We’ve selected some of all time favourite projects that were made possible thanks to the amazing versatility of Norstone’s stone cladding systems.

From fireplace surrounds, to unique water features, these projects and installations really highlight the power and beauty of stone veneer and also the highly professional end results achieved in particular with our patented fingerlocking corner system.

These showstoppers feature all of our current stone cladding ranges, from the hand-crafted, artisan style of Rustik™ to the ultra sleek, smooth and polished finish of Lynia™ tiles. We also feature the perennial classic Rock Panel systems, the newly expanded Aksent™ range and the highly versatile Planc™ system of natural stone panels.

So we will count down our 13 favourite stone cladding showstoppers..

As you have seen, Norstone are the market leaders of stone cladding in the UK for good reason! Not only do we offer a wide and diverse palette of colours and finishes, from glacier marble to ebony basalt, our intelligent interlocking panel systems are easy and rapid to install, and our modular cladding systems provide complete freedom of expression to design a framework that is as unique as your vision.

Coupled with our unique, market-leading 25 year warranty guarantee you can rest assured that a Norstone stone cladding installation will look amazing, last longer than comparable systems and you can call on our expertise over the last 15 years to make sure your project goes as smoothly as possible. To discuss a specific stone cladding project, you can call our dedicated, knowledgable team on 0203 178 2801 or browse our gallery of natural stone cladding projects on our website.

Do you have a favourite? Let us know in the comments section below.

Natural Stone Corners
The world’s only interlocking stone cladding finger joint corner system

Uniquely handmade to fit every corner, the inter-woven fingers deliver the most seamless natural stone look possible to create a very distinctive and natural corner.

Interlocking Stone Panels,
Seamless and joint free stone veneer
Our carefully calibrated interlocking stone panels align accurately to allow for rapid installation and minimise vertical seams, creating a seamless look. 

• The stepped ends on the interlocking stone panels create a seamless look because the vertical stone joints are virtually eliminated.
  
• The skills required to create a seamless look of traditional stacked stone cladding, plus on site labour costs, are significantly reduced with our exclusive interlocking rock panels.
  
• The modular format of our unique integrated finger joint corners guarantees a simple and effective stone cladding installation

Precision Calibration
Norstone's precise calibration is the process of ensuring that our stone cladding panels and corners are cut and manufactured to fit seamlessly and accurately every single time on site. Norstone prides itself on producing carefully calibrated natural stone products that will avoid frustration and save time during installation.