Ben Haugh

Senior Associate Director

Ben has responsibility for providing valuation coverage across a large part of the South East, namely Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex and Surrey, as well as across the south east of Greater London.

Whilst Ben has a wealth of cross-sector experience in valuing most property or land types across the counties, his focus in recent years has been the South East where he has developed an extensive network of contacts and a good understanding of sub-market conditions and their various drivers.

Ben began his career at Savills in Sevenoaks dealing with a variety of valuation, development and commercial agency instructions in London and the South East. After qualifying as a Chartered Surveyor in 2012, he moved to the London office of Savills undertaking portfolio valuations for institutional funds including Aberdeen, Avignon Capital, Aviva, Hermes, Legal & General, M&G (Prudential Group), SEGRO, and Threadneedle.

During his tenure in London, he worked for Avignon Capital as an Asset Manager, where he was responsible for a national mixed-use portfolio of properties and was tasked with increasing the income performance of the portfolio. Following further roles as a Valuation Surveyor and Associate Director in the Investment Valuation team at CBRE in London, working again for institutional funds such as Aviva, Blackrock, Henderson, JLL, LaSalle and Orchard Street, he has been working in a regional or provincial context, covering parts of the South East since 2018.

With over 13 years’ surveying experience and 10 years’ post qualified experience, Ben has unrivalled knowledge of valuation best practice, methodologies and approaches across the UK, as well as a thorough understanding of professional RICS valuation standards and risk management.

Qualifications: BA (Hons) MSc MRICS

Daniel Stephenson

Director, Head of Consultancy

Daniel has extensive corporate real estate experience, including development management, strategic planning and asset management. Daniel joined Aitchison Raffety in 2022 and heads up the Consultancy team advising clients on property strategy.

Dave Simpson

Associate Director

Dave joined our Healthcare team in March 2021.  He has over 10 years post qualification property experience and has been working in the healthcare sector since 2015.

His healthcare experience includes valuations, rent reviews and lease renewals as well as sale & leaseback of primary care properties.

Dave is responsible for maintaining and developing relationships with existing clients whilst expanding Aitchison Raffety’s presence within the primary care sector throughout the country.

Qualifications: MRICS

Gautam Sirpal

Head of Property Management

Gautam is Aitchison Raffety’s Head of Property Management based at the London Office, who manages a portfolio of retail, office, light industrial and mixed-use properties for a variety of clients; pension funds, family trusts, investors, occupiers and developers.

He joined the company in 2014 following six years in a client-side asset management role at a corporate landlord (FTSE 250 company), and prior to that as a property manager at a residential management company. Gautam has an MSc in Real Estate and has 14 years’ experience in all aspects of commercial and residential management including estate management, asset management, service charge management and accounting, risk mitigation, maintenance and refurbishment, lease renewals, rent reviews, surrender and re-gears, new lettings and leasing.

 

Gerard Barry

Head of Transactional & Capital Markets

Harry Torrance

Area Director - London & South

Harry is the Area Director ‑ London & South at Aitchison Raffety, where he provides valuation, dispute resolution and lease advisory advice in England and Wales. His clients include lenders, accountants, private clients, charities, and limited companies including pension funds and SIPPS. He values property for a range of purposes including secured lending, financial reporting, compliance with the Charities Acts and tax reporting purposes, as well as for dispute resolution purposes. He focusses on residential development sites, country houses, premium houses, equestrian, rural enterprise premises including holiday lets and owner-occupied or investment commercial premises.

Building on his lengthy experience of dispute resolution and dispute avoidance practice, Harry qualified as an RICS Accredited Mediator and RICS Evaluative Mediator in spring 2022. Typically, 80% of disputes at mediation are resolved at far less cost and far sooner than other formal routes. On “without prejudice” terms, entirely confidential and non-binding until completion, mediation offers people their own way to resolve disputes and preserve important relationships. Harry mediates or represents clients at mediation.

Harry supports the expansion of Aitchison Raffety’s wider offerings of Lease Advisory, Building Surveying, Compulsory Purchase and Portfolio Management.

Qualifications: MRICS MCIArb, RICS Registered Valuer, RICS Accredited Mediator

   

Ian Wimpenny

Director, Head of Valuation

As Director and Head of Valuation at Aitchison Raffety, Ian has overall responsibility for the business’ valuation service line, comprising close to 30 individuals, across its’ extensive office network. He is based out of the London office, but oversees and manages the company’s valuation coverage nationally. His role at Aitchison Raffety further encompasses strategic business planning, business development, risk management and quality control.

Ian is a Chartered Surveyor and Registered Valuer having in excess of 20 years’ experience in the real estate valuation industry and, for the last 15 years, has developed a specialism in the execution, review and management of valuations in the UK and EMEA region.

Jason Rawlings

Associate Director

As an Associate Director of Aitchison Raffety, Jason prepares surveys and other reports on residential property including party wall awards and carries out appraisal work for solicitors, banks and financial organisations including central London, valuing property up to £40million.

Jason has been in practice since 1988 and originally trained with a West End architectural practice (ATP Group), subsequently continuing his training as a Surveyor with northwest London firm Higgins & Co reaching Director status. He developed skills in organising and overseeing refurbishment and new build schemes for a number of Housing Associations. Jason joined Aitchison Raffety in 1999 based at the company’s Hertfordshire office and primarily worked in the residential sector undertaking valuations, surveys and construction monitoring. His valuation experience extends from Watford and surrounding Home Counties, into north, northwest, west and central London.

Qualifications: BSc MRICS

Laurence Barton

Director

Laurence has over 30 years experience in the commercial property sector.  He set up his own property consultancy, Barton Rix, which was acquired by Aitchison Raffety in 2007.

As Head of Corporate Real Estate, Laurence advises major national and international companies on property matters ranging from simple lease negotiations to corporate relocations.  He also has expert knowledge in Landlord and Tenant dispute resolution matters with experience in arbitration and expert witness procedures.

 

Mark Ohanaka

Client Relationship Consultant

Martin Powell

Operations Director, Valuation

As Operation Director in Valuation, Martin oversees all operational aspects of the Valuation Division Strategy, ensuring the Division is constantly moving towards fulfilling its short-term and long-term objectives and does not diverge from its strategic guidelines.

Martin oversees the Divisions Operations performance, investments and other business ventures with innovation to support business growth with constant change.

Martin has over 20 years’ experience in Senior leadership roles becoming the youngest Bank Manager at Lloyds where he spent eight years prior to joining Aitchison Raffety as a Director in 2019 as Valuation Business Director.

 

Nathan Young

Surveyor

Nathan joined our Healthcare team in April 2021.

He has three years property experience including two years within the healthcare sector specialising in reviewing NHS Notional Rent, and involvement in rent reviews and partnership valuations.

Nathan will be working towards completing his APC and MRICS qualification as well as maintaining and developing relationships with existing clients and expanding Aitchison Raffety’s presence within the primary care sector throughout the country.

Nick Mann

Senior Surveyor

Philip Waite

Managing Director

Philip was appointed the Managing Director of Aitchison Raffety in 2020. He works closely with the Operations and Finance Director, People Director and the heads of each service division to ensure that the company develops and achieves its strategy for growth, maintains its vision, and promotes its values as a new employee owned business.

He continues to undertake work within the education and healthcare sectors throughout the UK.

Philip joined the company in 1997 and has over 30 years’ experience in property as well as business development, systems and people management. From 2009 he headed up the company’s Western Regional Office in Stokenchurch which undertakes work across the West of England and Wales and more recently he led our Healthcare and Education teams. He became Group Operations Director in 2015.

As a chartered surveyor and RICS registered valuer Philip has specialised in valuations for development and investment within the education and healthcare sectors for some considerable time, specifically medical centres, pharmacies, hospitals, crèches, independent schools, academies, and colleges.

Qualifications: BSc (Hons) IRRV (Hons) FRGS FCMI MRICS

Simon Cosstick

Associate Director

Simon joined Aitchison Raffety’s Business Rates team in October 2020.

Located at the company’s London office, Simon is a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and is responsible for providing advice on rates liability, rates mitigation strategies and budget planning.  An experienced operator in the field his role will involve submitting Checks and Challenges to the Valuation Office Agency and providing strategic advice to occupiers and Landlords in London and the Southeast.

Simon has a wealth of experience in all aspects of business rates, most recently working with central London clients in challenging their rateable values, advising on rates mitigation strategies and ensuring properties undergoing redevelopment are not liable for business rates.  Extensive knowledge in advising serviced office providers and within the motor trade show a breadth of expertise that enhances our team.

Qualifications: MRICS

Stephen Anderson

Director

Stephen has over 37 years’ experience in Rent Reviews and Lease Renewals and is actively involved in the valuation of commercial property advising vendors and purchasers. He established his own business in the early 90’s before merging with Huggins Edwards & Sharp in 2006. Subsequently, he was Head of Landlord & Tenant at a London based chartered surveyors.

An RICS APC Assessor, Stephen has acted as an RICS APC Counsellor and Supervisor for several years, developing graduates and more experienced surveyors in different aspects of the profession.

Thomas Shaw

Associate Director

Tom is an Associate Director in the Business Rates team and is involved in negotiating appeals with the valuation office, advising clients on their business rates liability and how to mitigate their exposure to business rates.

Tom joined Aitchison Raffety in 2020 as a Senior Surveyor and was promoted in March 2022 to an Associate Director. As well as business rates, Tom has gained experience in Auctions, West End Investment, Office leasing and letting and Valuations. After qualifying in 2017 Tom specialised in business rates. Before join Aitchison Raffety Tom primarily advised London office occupiers on their rates exposure and ways to mitigate their liability, with particular focus on Material Change of Circumstance appeals.

In addition to this, Tom worked with a number of large propco’s, developers and private landlords in reducing or eliminating their rates liability on large scale developments. Tom has further experience in advising retail and industrial clients and now advises clients across a variety of sectors and locations. Tom is very sociable and a great communicator these attributes have led him to take up a position as a committee member for the London Rating Network.

Qualifications: MRICS

Tom Beckett

Surveyor