Is Your Club Project Ready for the Board to Approve? A 12-Point Test

A club project can look ready before it is ready.

The concept may be attractive. The architect may be appointed. The board may have a preferred direction. There may even be a cost plan on the table.

That is not the same as having enough information to approve the next commitment.

For a club board, the important question is not simply “Do we like the project?” It is:

Do we understand the decision we are making, the evidence behind it, and what it means for the club while the work is being delivered?

The ClubsNSW Governance Code of Practice says major capital works should be properly defined, documented, cost planned, risk assessed and approved in line with the club’s board policy. It also calls for documented selection criteria, appropriate contracts and diligent board oversight. The Code is not a project-management manual, but it gives boards a useful standard for asking better questions. Read the current ClubsNSW governance guidance.

Here is a practical readiness test.

1. What problem is the project solving?

Can the board describe the project in terms of the club’s purpose and operations, rather than only in terms of a building?

“A new restaurant” is a scope description. It does not explain whether the objective is to improve member experience, increase capacity, replace an end-of-life facility, improve kitchen flow, or support a wider trading strategy.

If the objective is unclear, the project will collect features. That makes it difficult to decide what can be reduced when the budget or programme is tested.

2. What are the realistic options?

Has the board compared more than one response to the problem?

The relevant options might include refurbishing part of the existing venue, staging the work over several years, rebuilding, relocating a function, or doing nothing for now while addressing a smaller operational issue.

The point is not to create a long list of theoretical schemes. It is to make the trade-offs visible before the board becomes attached to one design.

3. Who owns the decision?

Is it clear which decisions sit with the board, which sit with management, and which have been delegated to a committee or project team?

This matters when the project becomes difficult. A board needs to know who can approve a change, who can accept a risk, who can instruct a consultant, and when a decision must return to the board.

Write those decision rights down. Do not rely on everyone having the same understanding.

4. What is included in the project budget?

Does the number presented to the board cover the whole project, or only the builder’s anticipated contract sum?

A useful budget should make room for design and consultant fees, approvals, surveys, temporary works, staging, furniture and equipment where relevant, escalation, contingency, financing impacts and the costs of keeping the venue operating.

If an item is not included, label it. A board can make a reasoned decision about an allowance. It cannot make a reasoned decision about a number that appears complete but is not.

5. Has the design been tested against an affordability envelope?

Has the design team been given a budget that the club can actually support?

The sequence matters. If the concept is allowed to grow without a clear affordability envelope, cost planning becomes a difficult exercise in taking things away. That is harder for the board, harder for members and harder for the design team.

The budget should not be a single target with no explanation. It should show the assumptions behind it, the confidence level at the current stage and the decisions that would change it.

6. What happens to trading during the work?

If the club will remain open, has the project team mapped what happens to gaming, food and beverage, functions, access, amenities, deliveries, staff areas, parking and member movement during each stage?

Staging is not something to leave until the builder arrives. It affects the design, the programme, the temporary works and the club’s revenue-producing areas.

Ask for a simple stage-by-stage plan. Which areas are closed? Which remain open? What changes for members and staff? What must be ready before the next stage can begin?

7. Has the operational impact been discussed with the people who run the venue?

The project should not be shaped only by drawings and cost plans.

Operations, hospitality, gaming, facilities, marketing and member-facing staff will see risks that may not be obvious in a design meeting. They can also identify practical opportunities, such as a better service route or a less disruptive sequence of works.

Bring those people into the process early enough for their input to change the plan.

8. What approvals and member decisions are required?

Has the board identified the planning, building, licensing, funding, member and internal approvals that may affect the programme?

The exact pathway will depend on the club, the site and the scope. The important point is to distinguish an approval that is already secured from one that is only expected, and a member communication activity from a formal member decision.

The project programme should show those dependencies rather than treating approvals as a footnote.

9. How will consultants and builders be selected?

Can the board explain the selection criteria before it receives proposals?

Price will matter. It should not be the only thing that matters. Relevant live-venue experience, methodology, programme, capability, financial standing, safety, communication and the proposed risk allocation may all be material.

The selection criteria should be agreed before the tenders are opened. Otherwise the criteria can quietly change to suit the preferred proposal.

10. How will conflicts of interest be managed?

Are directors, executives, consultants and suppliers required to disclose relevant interests, and is there a clear process for handling a conflict when one arises?

This is not an accusation against anyone. It is a basic part of defensible governance. A well-run process makes the decision easier to explain to members and to the board’s future self.

11. What will the board see each month?

Has the board agreed the information it needs to oversee the project?

A useful monthly report should make it possible to see the current position, the movement since the previous report, the decisions required and the risks that need attention. Depending on the stage, that may include cost, programme, design, approvals, procurement, quality, safety, operations and member communication.

The report does not need to be long. It does need to be honest and consistent. A board should not have to reconstruct the project from a collection of consultant updates.

12. What would make the board stop, change course or defer the next stage?

Has the board agreed the conditions that would trigger a review?

Those conditions might relate to affordability, funding, approvals, trading disruption, a material change in scope, a programme delay, a risk becoming unacceptable, or information that is still missing.

This is one of the most useful questions in the list because it prevents momentum from becoming the decision-maker. A project can be worth pursuing and still not be ready for the next commitment.

The simple test

A project is ready for the next board decision when the board can answer these questions in plain language:

• What are we trying to achieve?
• What options did we consider?
• What are we committing to now?
• What will it cost, including the parts outside the builder’s price?
• How will the club continue operating?
• What evidence is still missing?
• Who owns the next decision?

If several answers are unclear, the right response may be to do more work before approving the next stage. That is not indecision. It is a way of protecting the quality of the decision.

UpScale Project Management helps club boards review feasibility, coordinate the project team, plan staged delivery and maintain independent oversight through procurement and construction. The appropriate level of support depends on the project stage and what the club already has in place.

For a printable version of the questions, see the 15 Questions Every Club Director Should Ask. If you are working through a live refurbishment or redevelopment, you can book a project consultation.

This article is general project-management information, not legal, financial, planning or regulatory advice. Clubs should obtain advice from the appropriately qualified professionals for their specific project.

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Sources

• ClubsNSW, Club Governance Code of Practice, checked 29 September 2026.
• ClubsNSW, current Code PDF, checked 29 September 2026.