Inside the Cairo Limestone Quarry: How Arbour Ensures Unmatched Quality

16/12/2025 - News

Seeing is believing - quality & craftmanship at our Egypt quarry

By Matt Bettison

November this year was my first trip to the quarry in Egypt where we source our renowned limestone! I thought after 20 years in the industry that my knowledge of paving and all things landscaping was pretty sound but there is absolutely no substitute for seeing the real thing in action. Two big things that struck me was firstly the sheer scale of the production but also how precise everything is. The blocks of limestone are weigh around 30 tonnes each yet they are not thrown around with pieces being smashed out of them. They are carefully selected, moved by crane throughout the process, sawn into precise dimensions, then polished to give you that flawless finish.

The selection of the stone blocks is without doubt the most important part of the process. We have local experts that have been working with this stone for decades – they select pieces based on knowledge and knowhow. Their choices ultimately affect the quality of the paving that is produced. Choosing only high-quality blocks at this stage ensures only the highest quality paving material is produced. We specify only the highest grade where others may mix and match grades of limestone to create a blend.  

Being on the ground in the factory also presents a multitude of material choices that I didn’t know was possible. All limestone but very different in colour, texture and size formats. Whether it’s a slightly lighter shade or a more textured surface finish there is a solution to specifying exactly what you want. This comes from the type of stone and then the processing of the stone. 

One of my big takeaways from this trip was price. The term value engineering is something I’ve heard a lot this last year and was on the agenda in Cairo was to see if we could produce a budget catalogue of products alongside our usual high-quality offering. It is possible but it means compromising our products – buying a lower grade quality of stone, mixing in lower quality paving to create a blend or reducing the thickness of timber on our crates. These things create a lower priced material but with it, an inferior product. We reflected on this and said no – we are sticking to our mantra – we only supply high quality materials to high quality installers. 

Innovation. I touched on the sheer scale of products available to us when it comes to Egyptian limestone when it comes to choice of size, format, colour and finish. Our local experts showcased a whole new array of products that we could use from tumbled crazy paving to larger format slim setts and hand fettle edges on step units. When it comes to sourcing products, we know that Arbour can do just about anything! But having these new innovative, different formats in front of us allows us the opportunity for new products that we would otherwise not have thought of. 

We go beyond just a small catalogue of paving and walling options – if you can dream it then we can produce it! What a trip!