We've been delighted by the overwhelming response to our Emerging Talent Awards, receiving nominations from across the industry, with submissions reflecting the contribution of a wide range of entrants.
Emerging Talent Awards Shortlisted Nominees
The Awards are about recognising and rewarding the achievements of those at the beginning of their career in the sector and form part of Industry Day's third seminar session, Emerging Talent Awards: meet the new stars of the stone industry, on Wednesday 7 June. This will be hosted by leading broadcaster and sustainability commentator Susannah Streeter and culminates with the award presentation.
The chosen winners will be presented with their award, along with a voucher to the value of £250, at the 2023 Natural Stone Show, June 6-8 at ExCeL, London. In addition each winner will be featured in the Natural Stone Specialist magazine and on www.stonespecialist.com
Jason Kennedy
Director -
Stone Cladding Systems
Nominated by Iain Kennedy, Consultant
Jason was working at Realstone in 2016 when the company went into administration. He started his own stone rainscreen company, Stone Cladding Systems (SCS), and completed Realstone’s outstanding projects. He designed his own cladding system, Aztec, and for a short period, while his new business was becoming established, took on several part-time and ad hoc jobs to survive. The first project SCS secured on its own involved building a 6m2 test panel at Vinci for CWCT testing. He drove a van to Spain to collect a sample panel and returned the next day to Scotland in time for it to be erected for the planners. Through Covid, his hands-on approach continued to reap rewards, with repeat business growing. He believes he produced the first ever Bath Basebed stone rainscreen in Bath. SCS was approached by Hilti last year and now has an OEM partnership with the ventilated façades frame manufacture. Jason now has a thriving company offering cladding in more than 25 stone types, many of them from UK quarries. He expects SCS to break through the £1million turnover barrier this year.
