Saskia Manson (MEng Civil & Structural Engineering 2017, pictured above) is a sustainability consultant, specialising in 'the circular economy and effective implementation of material reuse strategies'.
She's also the founder and CEO of Re:New, a platform looking to address the issue of waste in the building industry - and it's this venture that Sheffield's Emerge: Be enterprising programme recently picked as its first ever Alumni Business Showdown winner.
Launched in part to help alumni entrepreneurs connect with their customers, the Alumni Business Showdown also aims to put innovative graduates in touch with a vibrant network of fellow alumni business owners.
The new competition invites newly registered businesses to pitch an outline of their philosophy, operating model and future direction, and offers a prize of £1,000 in launch and development funding to the winning venture.
Re:New was eventually chosen as the inaugural winner, amidst a number of other high quality applications. Judges were impressed by the overall strength of Saskia's pitch, which featured a compelling story and vision, and showed clear potential to make a tangible impact through both its immediate and longer-term goals.
I’m thrilled that Re:New has been recognised through the Alumni Business Showdown. This award provides a real boost to help us launch our MVP, and I’m grateful for the support of the Emerge team and Sheffield alumni community in helping to accelerate our mission to make material reuse in construction scalable and impactful.
Saskia Manson
Founder and CEO, RE:NEW
After graduating from Sheffield, Saskia began her career as a Structural Engineer working mainly on building refurbishments, before moving into sustainability consulting. She launched Re:New in 2023, envisioning a future where construction and nature could co-exist.
"Re:New is making that vision a reality," she says, by "transforming the way we think about existing buildings. Our platform is a construction reuse ecosystem: it educates on how to recover materials and design them into new projects; inspires through real-world examples; and connects through a growing supplier network to make reuse simple and practical.
"By turning demolition into opportunity, it aims to make material reuse the norm in construction, and help build a future where nothing goes to waste and every material has a second life".
A screenshot showing a selection of RE:NEW project examples
The £1,000 prize will be allocated to activities that amplify Re:New's launch, and help build community engagement. Specific areas it will support include LinkedIn marketing and targeted outreach; catering and materials for a launch event; and software and tools to help develop an influential climate network.
You can read more about Saskia and her new venture at the Re:New website.
To discover more exciting projects in development from a wide variety of undergraduate and alumni entrepreneurs, explore the full range of Emerge activities and get involved in helping to grow their network.