Club Redevelopment Timeline Guide
A board-ready way to plan the phases, dependencies, decisions, and schedule risks in a NSW club redevelopment.
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Download the full guide below, or read the phase-by-phase breakdown further down the page.
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A useful programme connects your target opening date with the decisions, approvals, design, procurement and handover needed to reach it. A refurbishment in an operating club can follow a different sequence from a new extension, even with a similar budget.
This guide explains the main phases, what needs to happen before each can start and where the board can help keep things moving. Your project team can then build a dated programme around the club’s scope, site, approvals and operating needs.
What to ask your team:
For each milestone, show who is responsible, what needs to happen first and when the board needs to decide. Identify the critical path: the connected tasks that determine the finish date. Keep authority response times and other uncertain items visible in the programme.
Related reading: our Development Planning & Approvals service, and DA Approval Process for Club Redevelopment NSW.
Feasibility Study
What Happens
- Confirm the problem, desired outcome, project constraints, and decision owner
- Site analysis — existing conditions, utilities, constraints documented
- Test one or more concept directions against the operational brief
- Ask the quantity surveyor (QS) to prepare an early cost plan with its assumptions and exclusions visible
- Test funding, revenue, disruption, and affordability assumptions
- Map the approvals, procurement path, dependencies, and decision dates
- Governance structure options — steering committee, reporting, decision-making
- Board decision: proceed to detailed design or pause/revise concept
Common Delays
- The next board or committee meeting falls after the team needs a decision
- The brief changes while options are being tested
- Site analysis incomplete — utilities not fully mapped, asbestos survey deferred
- Consultant scopes overlap or leave gaps
- Member consultation deferred — board wants concept finalized first
- Financial assumptions are not agreed or sensitivity-tested
Concept Design
What Happens
- Architect develops the preferred concept to an agreed level of detail
- Schematic design drawings — floor plans, elevations, 3D renders
- Schematic specifications — material types, finishes, key systems
- QS updates the cost plan and records design assumptions and exclusions
- Utility requirements confirmed — power, water, sewer, communications
- Heritage advice and authority engagement arranged where applicable
- Member consultation — concept presented, feedback collected, refinements made
- Preliminary planning assessment — town planner advises on likely development application (DA) requirements
- Board decision: approve concept, proceed to detailed design, or revise
Common Delays
- Consultation requires further options or a revised brief
- Heritage advice identifies design work or further investigation
- Utility capacity or upgrade requirements remain unconfirmed
- Board and member feedback arrives in separate revision cycles
- Funding discussions wait for firmer scope or cost information
- Planning advice identifies a constraint that changes the concept
Detailed Design & Documentation
What Happens
- Architect develops the design to the agreed documentation milestone
- Detailed drawings produced — architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, hydraulic
- Detailed specifications — materials, finishes, quality standards, performance requirements
- Applicable sustainability requirements confirmed with the design team
- Accessibility and building-code advice incorporated for the current design
- Engineering design completed — structural, mechanical, electrical, hydraulic systems
- QS updates the cost plan against the coordinated design
- Gaming venue compliance review — Liquor & Gaming NSW preliminary consultation if required
- DA application package compiled
- Project Manager appointed; baseline schedule developed
Common Delays
- Architect and engineer information is issued on different assumptions
- Sustainability, accessibility, or building-code advice requires design changes
- Heritage requirements require further design development
- Utility provider information is outstanding
- Gaming or liquor requirements are not resolved for the proposed works
- The updated cost plan exceeds the approved budget and scope must be reviewed
- New requests continue after the agreed design-freeze date
- Design freeze discipline not enforced — design continues past intended freeze date
Board Warning
Treat design freeze as a board decision gate. Record what is approved, what remains provisional, and how later changes affect cost and program.
Development Application (DA) Lodgement & Determination
What Happens
- Pre-lodgement engagement considered with the planning team
- DA application submitted to local council
- Council completeness review — checks if all documentation provided
- If incomplete: RFI (Request for Information) issued
- Notification or referral steps completed where required for the application
- Assessment against the planning controls and matters relevant to the site
- Draft or final conditions reviewed for delivery implications
- Development Consent issued with conditions
Common Delays
- The application is missing information or relies on unresolved consultant inputs
- Submissions raise noise, parking, privacy, heritage, or operational issues
- The consent authority requests amendments or additional information
- Traffic, parking, heritage, environmental, or contamination work needs expansion
- External referrals or utility advice sit outside the project team’s control
- Proposed conditions affect staging, cost, or operations and need review
- A review or appeal pathway is considered and requires separate advice
Board Warning
Do not promise a determination date from a generic allowance. Ask the planner to map the current pathway, information dependencies, authority steps, and a range of scenarios for this site.
Construction Documentation & Tender
What Happens
- Consultant team completes the agreed tender documentation package
- Specifications and performance requirements are coordinated with the drawings
- QS prepares the agreed pricing schedule or bill of quantities
- PM maps tender, evaluation, approval, negotiation, and mobilisation decisions
- Tender documentation compiled — drawings, specs, BoQ, contract terms, site information
- Tender package released to the approved shortlist
- Tenderers inspect the site, ask questions, and prepare compliant submissions
- Tender evaluation, board approval, contract negotiation and signature
Common Delays
- Tender documents are issued with unresolved design or scope items
- Pricing schedules cannot be completed because consultant information is missing
- Tender questions reveal conflicting drawings, specifications, or site information
- Tenders contain material qualifications or cannot be compared like for like
- Preferred-tenderer clarifications change price, program, or risk allocation
- Legal review, funding conditions, or board formalities are not programmed
Board Warning
Illustrative tender planning example only: four weeks for tenderers plus two weeks for evaluation, clarifications, and the board decision equals six weeks from issue to decision. That example assumes the documents, shortlist, evaluation plan, and meeting date are ready. If tasks overlap, show the dependency rather than counting the same time twice.
Construction
What Happens
- Site establishment, access controls, temporary facilities, and operational separation
- Demolition and hazardous-material controls where required
- Structure, envelope, and services delivered in the agreed sequence
- Fitout, specialist equipment, testing, and commissioning coordinated
- Staged handovers managed around club operations where applicable
- Completion evidence, training, manuals, approvals, and defects documented
Common Delays
- Weather affects critical external or structural activities
- Long-lead items are selected or released later than the procurement schedule requires
- Trade resources or key site personnel are not available as programmed
- Design information or approvals are issued after the work is due to start
- Variations change the critical path or require rework
- Ground, utility, hazardous-material, or contamination conditions differ from the tender information
- Operational staging, shutdowns, member access, or temporary works are not resolved
- Testing, commissioning, certification, or handover evidence is incomplete
Board Warning
Use the accepted baseline as the control document. Require each update to show actual progress, critical-path movement, approved changes, recovery actions, and decisions needed from the club.
Construction Program Inputs to Test
| Project condition | What changes the program | Evidence to request | Allowance treatment | Decision gate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating club | Member access, trading hours, noise and shutdown windows | Staging and temporary-works plan | Test each handover and shutdown dependency | Board accepts the operational impact |
| Existing building | Services, structure, hazardous materials and concealed conditions | Surveys and investigation register | Keep unresolved conditions visible in the risk allowance | Tenderers price the same information |
| Specialist equipment | Lifts, kitchens, HVAC, electrical upgrades and venue systems | Procurement schedule with decision dates | Track design release, manufacture, delivery and commissioning | Orders align with the critical path |
| Authority interfaces | Consent conditions, utilities, inspections and certification | Responsibility matrix and approvals schedule | Separate team-controlled tasks from external response times | No milestone relies on an unnamed approval |
| Board decisions | Scope, budget, funding, contract departures and change requests | Decision calendar with papers issued in advance | Escalate decisions before they reach the critical path | Delegations and meeting dates are confirmed |
These checks help the team build a project-specific baseline. They do not replace the contractor’s detailed program, consultant advice, authority information, or the executed contract.
Defects Liability Period
What Happens
- Building occupied and operations commence
- Defects discovered post-opening identified and logged
- Builder rectifies defects in accordance with the executed contract
- Security, retention, and release steps administered under the contract
- Defects tracked with owner, due date, access needs, evidence, and status
- Final inspection and close-out planned before the contractual period expires
- Security released only through the contract’s agreed process
Common Delays
- Builder slow to respond to defect notices
- Disputes over whether item is "defect" or "maintenance"
- Defect rectification poor quality — requires re-work
- Close-out actions are left until the end of the contractual period
- Responsibility for later issues is assumed without checking the contract and relevant advice
Phase and Decision-Gate Summary
Use this sequence to test whether the next phase is genuinely ready to start. Some work can overlap, but overlapping unresolved scope or approvals can simply move risk into tender or construction.
| Phase | Planning basis | Gate to pass |
|---|---|---|
| Feasibility Study | Test the case for change | Board endorses the brief and next-stage budget |
| Concept Design | Compare options and impacts | Board selects a preferred concept |
| Detailed Design | Coordinate scope and cost | Design freeze and cost plan approved |
| DA Lodgement & DeterminationAuthority timing depends on the site, proposal, information quality, referrals, and submissions | Follow the project-specific authority pathway | Consent pathway and delivery conditions understood |
| Construction Documentation & Tender | Complete the package and compare tenders | Board approves a value-for-money recommendation |
| ConstructionBuild the baseline from the actual scope, staging, procurement, access, and approval dependencies | Manage the accepted contractor program | Practical completion evidence accepted |
| Defects Liability | Use the executed contract period | Defects and close-out obligations resolved |
Scope gate
Brief approved
Outcomes, constraints, budget, and governance aligned
Approval gate
Pathway mapped
Information, referrals, and conditions understood
Delivery gate
Baseline accepted
Scope, staging, procurement, and handover are programmed
Use ranges as scenarios, not promises
Ask the team for a base case, a credible downside case, and the assumptions behind each. When an assumption changes, update the forecast and record the board decision required. A generic percentage allowance can hide the dependency that actually needs action.
Ten Schedule Risks to Review
Review these risks across the full project lifecycle. Their priority and effect will differ by project.
Approval pathway changes
Maintain an approvals schedule and information registerObjections, RFI, heritage issues, council review prolonged.
Design decisions move
Set decision dates and record the effect of late changesScope changes, client decisions delayed, cost control issues, design coordination.
Construction Material & Labour Issues
Track release, manufacture, delivery, access, and installationLong-lead items delayed, trades unavailable, labour shortages.
Site Conditions Worse Than Anticipated
Investigate early and state the residual assumptions in the tenderGeotechnical surprises, utility conflicts, contamination discovered.
Weather Events
Link allowances to weather-sensitive critical activitiesRain, extreme weather, seasonal delays.
Slow change control
Assess time and cost before directing changed workUncontrolled variations, design changes, scope creep.
Staging & Phasing Complexity
Make staging part of the baseline, not a side planOperational access, temporary works, shutdowns, and handovers are not coordinated.
Regulatory Approval & Inspection Delays
Name the owner, notice period, prerequisites, and evidence for each stepCouncil building inspections late, compliance issues requiring re-work.
Unclear team responsibilities
Use a responsibility matrix and one controlled decision logArchitect/builder/PM coordination failures, unclear responsibilities, slow decision-making.
Contingency Underestimation
Review remaining float and risk allowance at each reporting cycleInsufficient contingency allocated; unforeseen issues consume contingency quickly.
How to Minimise Delays
Disciplined project management makes emerging delay visible early enough for the board and project team to act.
Front-load decision-making
Complete feasibility, concept, and design phases comprehensively. Avoid design changes during construction.
Plan a comprehensive DA strategy
Early council engagement, heritage assessment, objection management, and appeal contingency included in the timeline.
Enforce design freeze discipline
No scope changes after freeze date without formal change control and explicit timeline acceptance.
Allocate realistic contingency
Set allowances from the project risk register and accepted program. Focus management on critical activities and near-critical paths.
Procure long-lead items early
Identify lifts, gaming machines, HVAC units, and kitchen equipment early. Place orders and manage delivery schedules.
Appoint experienced project team
PM with similar project experience, QS with cost control discipline, site management with scheduling discipline.
Weekly site meetings during construction
Track progress weekly against schedule. Identify delays early. Implement corrective action promptly.
Monthly board reporting
Track schedule variance monthly. Escalate delays to board. Decision on acceleration strategies (overtime, extra resources).
Download as PDF
Enter your details to download the complete Club Redevelopment Timeline Guide as a printable PDF.
More Free Resources
Every stage of a club redevelopment has its own checklist. Here are the other four.
Club Redevelopment Risk Checklist
25 practical risk checks covering budgets, governance, planning, construction and club operations, with actions to discuss with your project team.
Club Capital Works Budget Template
Cost categories, practical estimating advice and an illustrative worked budget to help your board understand the full project cost.
15 Questions Every Director Should Ask
15 questions to help directors assess the project brief, budget, risks and delivery plan, with evidence to request before making a decision.
Builder Tender Evaluation Template
A practical way to compare builder proposals, clarify price and scope, and assess delivery capability, with an illustrative scoring framework.
Need a Timeline Specific to Your Project?
Site constraints, approvals, staging, procurement, and club operations shape the program. We can help your board turn those dependencies into a practical, project-specific schedule.