Mr McManus, who is now MD of Grantham-based Harlaxton Engineering Services Ltd, will advise the Government on new techniques to reduce landfill created by construction waste.
This comes on the back of a double award win at the Grantham Business Awards last week where his firm scooped Business of the Year and Business Innovation prizes.
Mr McManus said he was proud of his achievements and always looked back to his college days as the time when he laid the foundations of his current success.
“It was great to be recognised at the business awards, it means a huge among to the extremely talented people we have working in the business,” he said.
“And the fact that we are now travelling to London to advise the Government on best practice in the industry is really exciting.”
Harlaxton Engineering has developed a pioneering technique of reducing landfill created by road building and construction by mixing the waste with Perma-Soil so it can be re-used. This reduces costs for firms who do not need to pay landfill and virgin aggregate tax and is better for the environment.
Mr McManus said: “We have reshaped our business and we are focused on innovative solutions like this that could have huge benefits for the industry.”
Mr McManus was an electrical engineering apprentice at Lincoln College from 2000 to 2004 and returned in 2007 to complete an HNC in Electrical and Electric Engineering. He went on to work for Selmec, Babcock and Meddow before taking over as MD at Harlaxton.
“The college introduced me to engaging with formal learning properly for the first time as I hadn’t been great at school. It was here that I picked up the basic skills and knowledge that have served me through my career,” he said.
“I didn’t know it at the time, but it was also here that I started to build a professional network. Students need to think about the importance of this. Fellow apprentices and engineering and construction students who were there at the time still cross my path regularly. We have an instant rapport and as we have a shared experience and this makes doing business much easier.”
