Louise Brooke-Smith yesterday took office as the first female president in RICS鈥� 146-year history.
She has been a surveyor for nearly 30 years and is director of Brooke Smith Planning, a planning and development consultancy she established in Birmingham in 1994. She is also a visiting fellow at Sheffield Hallam University and holds an honorary doctorate for services to surveying from Wolverhampton University. She has been vice chair of the National Planning Forum and is a previous chairwoman of Women in Property in the West Midlands.
Ms Brooke-Smith takes over at RICS from Michael Newey.
During her year-long presidency, she plans to focus on: diversity, Africa and her professional specialisms of planning & land economics.
She said: 鈥淐hartered Surveying is a globally recognised profession, and we must ensure that it is open to all, whatever their background, or gender. We are a proud industry, but have lagged behind others in terms of making the most of a diverse workforce. That鈥檚 why I鈥檓 delighted that RICS 鈥楽urveying the Future鈥� campaign will be a pillar of my presidential term and will help drive change across industry to ensure we attract and retain the very best talent.鈥�
On being the first female president in the institution鈥檚 history, she added: 鈥淚 have been elected on my individual merits and not because of my gender. While it might have taken some years, someone has to be first and I am extremely proud that it鈥檚 me. We have a female senior vice president, Amanda Clack, and UK & Ireland world regional chair, Fiona Grant, so I hope I am the first of many women who will help shape the institution.鈥�
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