Aled Wyn Rees FCIAT

for outstanding services to the Institute and Wales Region

Words by Dr Colin Stuhlfelder FCIAT

Over the seven years I have known Aled, his commitment to architectural technology and supporting the Institute as the voice of technologists, and the champion of our profession, has been profound and delivered with an enthusiasm both irresistible and infectious. In writing this citation I have been encouraged by officers from his Wales Region, and from national members and staff, who believe Aled is worthy of consideration as a Gold Medal recipient for being an exceptional ambassador for the Institute.

I first met Aled at the Glasgow AGM, he was the new Wales Regional Chair, and I, the Glyndŵr University Programme Leader for AT in Northeast Wales. Within weeks Aled was in Wrexham to meet my students, connecting them to a usually a Cardiff-centric Region in our wonderful but geographically awkward home-nation. This engagement, delivered with enthusiasm and a winning smile did not end with one tokenistic visit. Aled returned several times, organising CPDs and initiating a student prize to recognise achievement in both Welsh intuitions.

From his time as Regional Secretary in 2017 through to Chair then Councillor, Aled was part of a revival of Welsh engagement and strategy. While he stepped down in 2025, the hard work he led is evident in how the Region is continuing to serve its membership, and he continues to contribute. For example, a week before this submission was made, Aled was pivotal in organising a Building Safety (Wales) Act 2026 CPD as the legislation became live.

Aled’s impact on the Institute, and on behalf of its membership and the wider industry, does not stop at Offa’s Dyke. Alongside representing Wales on Council, he was also elected to hold the position of Trustee on the CIAT Executive Board, trusted to offer balanced professional and personal insight on the Institute’s strategic governance to great effect. These roles are in addition to being a longstanding MCIAT Professional Interview Assessor, having previously been involved in the earlier review stages, and as a judge for the AT Awards.

Alongside these CIAT roles, Aled was selected by the Architects Benevolent Society to be the Institute’s representative as a Trustee, a role held for four years demonstrating his commitment not only to the profession, but also to the wellbeing and mental health of those studying and working in our often high-pressure industry.

With regards Aled as a professional, his career working across a range of practices, from small to medium scale local and national businesses, to an international organisation with interests across major built environment and civil engineering schemes, gives him an informed and developing expertise essential to the Institute roles he has held. In his career, he has taken workplace experience and enhanced this with Masters-level studies in sustainability and Building Information Modelling to become a lead in his field and a contributor to wider knowledge in promoting this experiential and academic understanding with the universities he is involved with, as well as in the CPDs he promotes and delivers.

Aled continues to be an ambassador for the Institute, even as he has stepped back formally to raise his young family with his architect wife, in the domestic setting he is leading the way in understanding how ATs and architects cooperate for the best outcomes. I have no doubt, Aled will return to new CIAT roles, but while we wait (and he is already due at my University of Salford to pilot an AT graduate programme in September), his contribution has arguably already been worthy of the recognition a Gold Medal would confer.