The steering committee (or project board) has the formal responsibility for the entire project. Part of this responsibility is to ensure that the project is underpinned by a clear and feasible brief. It has to appoint and set up a competent briefing team, allocate sufficient resources to it, and monitor its progress. In relation to the briefs contents, the steering committee plays an important role in the development of the strategic brief (see page 26). As the projects key decision maker, it must define the general course of the project: What are the main objectives? How does the project fit into the wider organizational strategy? How far should the projects ambitions reach on such matters as architecture, sustainability and new ways of working? And what is the available budget?The groundwork for answering these questions is usually done by the briefing team, but the steering committee must indicate the overall direction and approve the developed vision. Especially if the project is intended to facilitate major organizational changes (e.g. a new way of working), the steering committee has a crucial role to play as champion of the envisioned changes. Obvious candidates for membership of the steering committee are the managers of the disciplines involved, such as the heads of facility management, real estate, finance, ict and human resources. It will be very useful if some of these members have previous experience with construction projects. If such experience is not available, it will be wise to bring in external expertise. Furthermore, it is important that members have the skills and power to deal with organizational politics and take decisions about conflicting stakeholder demands, which are almost certain to arise. The frequency of steering committee meetings can be limited. At the beginning of the project there should be a start-up session in which the committee agrees on the general objectives and vision for the project. After that, meetings will take place around the projects milestones when they are required to review and sign off formal briefing documents. Exceptionally, the committee will meet to discuss conflicts or major scope changes. Responsibilities-Setting project objectives. -Approving/reviewing formal briefing documents.-Resolving issues/problems/conflicts.-Monitoring overall progress, quality and budget. Members-One or two top managers/key decision makers.-Managers of the disciplines involved (HR, IT, facility management, real estate, finance).-External adviser(s) with construction expertise.Recommendations-Make sure that members have sufficient clout to push and sell necessary changes within the organization.-Decisions should not be based on personal preferences. The steering committee should represent the interests of the organization as a whole.-Committee members should represent a wide diversity of interests, and not just a few (e.g. not only finance).