Former Trustees and members of the Executive Committee
We extend our sincere thanks to all those who have served as Trustees or on the Executive Committee of AACT, moving us ever closer towards our goal of community ownership of this treasured site.
Akiko Kobayashi
Akiko served as co-convenor of AACT. She has worked in architectural and engineering practice internationally across sectors for 25 years, and has been living near the Astley Ainslie since 2006. Commissions and voluntary involvement include Woodland Tribe self-build adventure playgrounds, the Lothian Birth Centre co-designed with midwives and users, The People’s Money set of banknotes for RBS, and The Architecture Fringe festival. Current projects are focused on research and co-design for intergenerational living and collective self-build housing.
Willie McGhee
Willie served as co-convenor of AACT. He is a practicing forester who has worked in commercial and community forestry since 1990. He was, Director of Borders Forest Trust from 1996 to 2011, a Trustee and latterly Chair of Scottish Power’s Green Energy Trust (2002–2018), founder and Director of the Southern Upland Partnership (1999–2004), a Trustee on the Scottish Forestry Trust (2003–2012), a Director of the Millennium Forest for Scotland Trust (1996–2006) and served on two Forestry Commission Advisory Panels (Native Woodland: 1996–1999, Forests for People: 2000–2006) and is an active member and Secretary for the Forest Policy Group (2008–present). He currently serves as a fundraiser and Forest Manager for the Highland Perthshire Communities Land Trust and is an active campaigner and forestry consultant for community land ownership. He has been involved in purchasing and planning for community land purchase for the last 25 years and is a member of a forest owning partnership.
Julia Bouvy
Julia is an Architect and self-builder born in Brussels in a Scottish home. She has lived in Scotland for 20 years and is a mother and a keen gardener and cook. Julia and her family are frequent users of the Astley Ainslie parkland grounds, for walks, foraging, and nature watch. Her children go the nursery on the site.
Jonathan Silvertown
Jonathan is an ecologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of Edinburgh. He lives near Astley Ainslie, passing through the site almost daily on his way to work. He is interested in the development of various forms of social and technical infrastructure that can be used to track ecological change, such as the use of sensors connected to Edinburgh’s “internet of things” network to monitor biodiversity and visitor use of city parks (ParkLife). Previously, while at the Open University, Jonathan devised several citizen science web projects that crowdsource biological data, including iSpotnature.org which is a social network that rapidly and accurately identifies observations of any species of wildlife. Jonathan also writes popular science books, the most recent being, Dinner with Darwin: Food, drink and evolution (Chicago University Press, 2017) and The Comedy of Error: Why evolution made us laugh (Scribe, 2020).
Tim Orr
I have worked in brand and communications for over 30 years, holding senior roles in many large international companies, latterly holding the position of Head of Brand for Airbus. I now work as a branding and communications consultant.
Through my career I have gained extensive experience and skills in brand management, advertising, exhibitions, events, campaign management, media relations and crisis management. I am married with three grown up children and have lived in Marchmont and Morningside for 35 years and am a keen local walker (with the dog!) and nature lover.