It was an obvious headline grabber - Ruth Reed had become the first female RIBA president since the institute was established 175 years ago. But in a time when the construction industry is suffering from deep recession, it’s important that someone is flying flag for architecture.

Reed thinks that she is the person for the job: “I will be a clear advocate for architecture in terms of approaching the Government and other agencies to promote the idea that we should build our way out of this recession, that the construction industry is a way of reigniting the economy – that’s a very clear message that I want to deliver during my two years as president.”

There are two particular aspects of the industry that Reed would like to challenge. She says: “One thing I’d like to do is advise about evaluating buildings in terms of performance and making that a key element when evaluating design, because we need to up the game with built environment, to meet the carbon emissions.

“And the other is to start thinking about value of buildings to our clients and ways of adding value. In times of economic restraint adding value is a very good thing to be doing. Those two elements run through all of my policies.”

The position of president was previously held by Sir G. Gilbert Scott and Sir Basil Spence, among others. Reed takes over the two-year elected presidency from Sunand Prasad, who becomes RIBA immediate past president.

She has extensive experience in the practice and education. Currently course director and design tutor at the Birmingham School of Architecture, Reed is also a partner of planning consultancy, Green Planning Solutions.

The new president is proud to be the first woman elected in the position, but says that statistically it’s not an anomaly. “There are so few women in architecture and there were none in the RIBA until the late 1890s. The numbers of female architects was very show to grow during the 20th century and even now only represents 14 or 15% of the profession.

There have been other women who have stood for election and have sadly failed to get in, but statistically it’s not unusual that there hasn’t been one until now.”

She hopes to be a role model for female architects within the industry; to send out the message that it’s possible to have a complete career, that it’s extremely rewarding and that the industry needs women’s skills.

“Proportionately there aren’t enough top jobs relating to women in their professions, let alone in terms of the population as a whole. I think that what we bring are particular skills that any management level would find beneficial.

“Research shows that companies work well with women on the board, so I think this is something that all construction companies, professions and organisations should think about.

“It is a matter of role models, it’s also a matter of revaluating the career structure and the requirements of people filling those roles to include those skills that women may have obtained not necessarily in the traditional structure of their professions but with their life skills, which I think is something that women have in shed loads.”

But Reed is also passionate about representing the demographic as a whole and it was this desire that spurred her to run for president. “I felt that the regions and the membership needed a clear voice to address membership issues more proactively.

“The role is very clear in terms of an external voice for architecture but sometimes this creates a feeling around the membership that it’s not addressing their particular needs.

So I think this was one of the reasons why I wanted to stand. “The profession as a whole needs to widen its membership to include architects from all social, racial and economic backgrounds to represent the diverse nature of our society.”

Time will tell if Ruth Reed achieves her aims of representing the society and encouraging the Government to build out of recession.