The new members include Helen Gordon, director of development for Railtrack Property, and responsible for developing major stations and surplus rail land.
Two leading contractors, Keith Clarke and Ian Davis, will join Willmott Dixon chairman Sir Michael Latham on the board.
Clarke, chief executive of the £1.4bn-a-year Skanska Construction Group, is also chairman of the Major Contractors Group. Davis, director-general of the Federation of Master Builders, represents the interests of thousands of small-to-medium size contractors.
The new-look board also includes the bosses of top consultants WS Atkins and Citex. Mike Jeffries is chief executive of Atkins, Britain's biggest consultant, and is due to step up to chairman in April.
Oliver Jones is chief executive of Citex, the fast-growing business infrastructure management company. It was formed in 1998 after acquiring Bucknall Group.
The new housebuilding representative, Martin Donohue, is chief executive of Westbury, Britain's sixth largest housebuilder, and a board member of the Housing Forum. Westbury won Major Housebuilder of the Year at last year's Building Awards.
Returning to the board is Ken Shuttleworth, a partner at Foster & Partners, whose projects have included Chek Lap Kok airport in Hong Kong and Citibank's London Docklands headquarters.
The last new member is Jon Rouse, chief executive of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, the government's architecture champion.
Other existing members of the board include Paul Morrell, senior partner at Davis Langdon & Everest, and John Hobson, director of the DETR's construction sponsorship directorate.
