Aythan Lewes
Chartered Building Surveyor and Director| RICS Scotland Sustainability Group | Domestic Energy Assessor | PAS2035 Retrofit Assessor | SpACE Steering Group | Edinburgh Building Retrofit & Improvement Collective Chair |SG Heat Decarbonisation Subgroup |RICS Whole Life Carbon Assessment working group
Aythan is a Chartered Building Surveyor focused on how a knowledge of Building Physics and its intersection with triple bottom line sustainability can positively impact wider society. Aythan is currently a member of the RICS Scotland Sustainability Group and collaborator on the Edinburgh Climate Forum Steering Group. He was responsible for many of the RICS COP26 activities. Aythan was a member of the steering group of SpACE – Space for Architecture Carbon and Environment. SpACE was a multidisciplinary pop-up public exhibition and events venue in Edinburgh that addressed the biggest issue of our time - the climate emergency - and how the built environment affects it throughout COP26.
Aythan specialises in building pathology, condition surveys and analysis of building performance against the needs for triple bottom line outcomes from all built assets. This may take the form of maintenance planning, defects diagnosis and rectification, retrofit planning, material passports and pre-demolition audits. Aythan is also an experienced Project Manager, delivering rural diversification projects, large survey operations and complex contract management meeting a wide range of client and stakeholder aims including environmental and social outcomes. Aythan graduated with a degree in Building Surveying from Heriot Watt University in 2006 and gained Chartered status in 2009.
Over his seventeen-year career Aythan has worked in Scotland and Ireland for a wide range of clients, including blue chip corporates, rural landowners and public sector bodies. Amongst many projects, Aythan was lead designer for a Scottish government data centre and project manager for an award-winning rural diversification project in Caithness. Aythan moved to Dublin in 2014 and set up the Irish Building Surveying team for global consultancy AECOM. Following relocation to Scotland in 2018 Aythan joined EALA Impacts to build on experience in whole life carbon calculation, pre-demolition audits and retrofit.
Aythan’s interests stem from a fascination with counter-culture movements, from punk to the Bloomsbury Group. With a background in philosophy, history, and economics Aythan enjoys studying the different waves of development of society. Aythan is a keen musician, playing bass and writing electronic music. He is passionate about the Scottish outdoors and likes hiking, camping and snowboarding when the weather allows.