Contact: Email connect@ifs27.com for event enquiries
For any queries about your visit to Dundee email tracy.duncan@dundeecity.gov.uk
About International Festival of Stone Dundee 2027
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This is an ambitious initiative to hold a festival of all things stone. It will be located within urban spaces in the heart of the city, and everyone is invited to attend and participate!
The week-long festival is intended to be an eclectic and exciting mix of the theoretical and the practical aligned to an academic conference. Various diverse and dynamic stone related events will take place across a number of venues. It will be a unique occasion for the city, its people and its visitors.
Exhibitions, walking tours, stone balancing and stone carving, presentations, demonstrations, competitions and lectures. Some thought provoking events for stone professionals with fun and entertaining events for families.
Primarily the festival aims to highlight the positive benefits of reconsidering natural stone for use in architecture, urban design, public art and landscaping, but also to inspire a younger generation to consider the potential for a fulfilling and rewarding career. Something different, something satisfying, something exceptional.
The festival will provide a platform as to how modern techniques, outstanding skills and ability and carefully considered aesthetics can shape and enhance our shared spaces. Some of the key points we want the festival to explore are…
Cultural and Historical Identity: Scotland’s stone-built environment is a national asset, defining our cultural heritage and identity. Continual inaction will lead to the progressive loss of this heritage.
Societal Benefits: A vibrant, well-maintained built environment fosters societal cohesion, human wellbeing, and a sense of place.
Sustainability and Modern Challenges: Modern materials often have inherent ‘green’ issues, including high carbon footprints. Retaining and repurposing buildings aligns with sustainability goals.
Economic and Industry Revitalisation: Supporting local stone production addresses the critical decline in industry capacity and reduces reliance on imported materials which travel huge distances. Skilled craftsmanship is a national treasure that must be nurtured and supported for future generations.
Policy Influence: Political buy-in is essential to reinitiate stone quarrying and promote local materials from an unlimited resource. The recent focus by Historic Environment Scotland on re-establishing the building stone industry supports this direction. Their work illustrates a growing consensus on the need for action.
Why in a city? To raise awareness that our urban shared spaces are important, how they function, how they look, how they are enjoyed should be a concern of us all, but also to showcase the rich stone built heritage of the city of Dundee. Come and join us!
For more information please email connect@ifs27.com
| Cultural Tour of Dundee | Exclusive Offers 2027 |
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Coming late 2026 |
All information in the Cultural Tour of Dundee correct at the time of filming (filmed 2024).
Why Meet and Who Can Attend
Why meet?
- to celebrate the major contribution stone plays within a vibrant interesting built environment in all its facets
- to continue the conversation around the contemporary use of stone in our shared public space
- to learn from contemporary practitioners and creatives about how stone fits within their current practice
- what opportunities does stone provide toto contribute to better, stronger, healthier communities
- what challenges does the increasing use of technology and computer pose for traditional working methodologies
- does creative input fit within future advances in stonework, what is the potential for creatives to inform processes
- stone has a resonance beyond the material how can that connection be retained in modern design
Who can attend?
architects, urban planners, landscape architects, civil engineers, historic preservationists, material scientists, interior designers, stone suppliers, stone processors, artists and craftspeople, creatives, stone workers, drystone wallers, geologists, real estate developers, environmentalists interested in sustainability and material impact, educators and students
Organising Committee
- David F Wilson
- John Gray
- Doug Binnie
- Colin Tennant
- Alexis Wild
- Tomas Lipps (Stone Foundation)
With support from:
- Hannah Tomlinson, Globella; Events UK
- Tracy Duncan, Dundee City Region Convention Bureau
- Karen Tocher, Dundee City Region Convention Bureau
Conference Venue - To be announced
Check if you need a UK Visa and ETA
UK Visa
Visit the UK for tourism, business or a short stay (up to 6 months), airport transit visas. Visit the UK - GOV.UK website for more information.
Check if you need a UK visa by completing a short questionnaire on GOV.UK website.
Applying for an ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation)?
Everyone wishing to travel to the UK – except British and Irish citizens – everyone (including children) will need permission to travel in advance of coming here. This means if you were previously eligible to visit the UK without a visa you will need an ETA.
Please watch the two videos provided for more information.
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What is an ETA?
ETAs are digitally linked to a traveller’s passport and ensure more robust security checks are carried out before people begin their journey to the UK.
From 9 April 2025, it will cost £16 to apply for an ETA.
What an ETA is, who can get one and how to apply before coming to the UK (hyperlink).
How long it takes
You will usually get a decision within 3 working days, but you may get a quicker decision. Occasionally, it may take longer than 3 working days.
Information correct at the time of writing (31 March 2025) courtesy of GOV.UK website.
How to Get to Dundee - Videos and Travel Guide
| Aberdeen to Dundee |
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| Edinburgh to Dundee |
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Glasgow |
All information in the travel guides correct at the time of filming.
Read our Travel Made Easy Guide (link opens in new window) on how to get to Dundee from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Glasgow Airport, including coach travel to Dundee.
Book your Accommodation
DACBRES is the official accommodation booking site for delegates attending the International Festival of Stone Dundee 2027.
Dundee City Region Convention Bureau is working with the organising committee to manage accommodation for this event.
An allocation of rooms at guaranteed rates and terms have been secured with a variety of providers close to the conference and social venues.
Visit the official accommodation booking portal and book your accommodation.
Benefits:
- Guaranteed Rates & Availability - Rates are fixed & subject to availability & individual hotel terms and conditions – True room availability – only rooms available to book are displayed.
- Breakfast & VAT Included - No hidden extras – the price you see is the price you pay. Changes up to 24 hours before your arrival (subject to individual hotel Terms & Conditions).
- Nothing To Pay Upfront - Details of your valid credit card are only used to guarantee your reservation. Pay on check in (subject to individual hotel Terms & Conditions).
Getting around Dundee and MixMap Dundee Tourist Map
Getting around Dundee
Get active out and about in Dundee city. A compact city bursting with places of interest, history, and things to see, it is so easy to get around.
Dundee’s active travel routes in and around the city have been developed over the last few years with a key objective to encourage active travel through walking, cycling and public transport, and deploy sustainable alternatives to decarbonise transport. Read more on Dundee.com Active Travel website.
MixMap is a friendly, easy to use, locally produced Dundee map for tourists showcasing the colourful range of independent businesses, attractions and places of interest in Dundee and Broughty Ferry.
We want to help you make the most of your time in our city. Discover great little shops, welcoming restaurants, immersive attractions with MixMap The Dundee Tourist Map (link opens as a pdf document).
What is Dundee Famous For?
This is your voyage of discovery – uncover a location that offers the perfect combination of inspiration and innovation.
Our heritage and its people are the culture of a city, town or village and they are the basis of the stories we tell our children today. Dundee City Region is filled with many pioneering individuals who have pushed the boundaries of their professions to achieve memorable contributions, not just to our location, but indeed to the world. Explore more...
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For event enquiries please email connect@ifs27.com
Things to see and do, have a look for inspiration
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