Education of stakeholders

Work package 8, dealing with education for stakeholders within the RoofOfRock project, was designed to transfer all of the scientific knowledge collected in the project and to raise awareness about the importance of the sustainable use of platy limestone as a natural resource among the wider public, and among conservationists, restorers, stonecutters, architects and other professionals in the field.

The project helped identify a distinct need to inform both local inhabitants and professionals alike as to the particularities and specific characteristics of platy limestone as both a building material and as a mineral commodity, the particular extraction and use of which in building and architecture requires further study and protection as well.

The implementation of Work package 8 was intended not only as a series of lectures and presentations but also as an opportunity for local stakeholders to study the material aspect of platy limestone, its geological features and application, through various field activities and practical demonstrations of its use in typical local architectures. In most of the project area, platy limestone represents a local material whose simple, special qualities have been taken for granted and largely neglected. Even specialized literature, where related data is relatively scarce, reveals little about excavation methods, quarries and installations. Further, the workshops represented a great opportunity to communicate and share the aims and activities of the entire RoofOfRock project, together with the IPA Adriatic CBC program.