Renovating a closed building is a construction problem. Renovating a club while members keep coming in every day is a planning problem first. That was the job at the Police Officers Club in Ismailia, one of our Ministry of Interior projects: a full redevelopment of the club’s entrance, façades and outdoor spaces, carried out while the club stayed open to its members. Here is how that kind of work is organised.
01Split the club into zones before anything starts
The first decision is not about materials. It is about which part of the club can close, for how long, and what members lose while it does. On a live club, the works are phased so that each zone is fenced off, finished and handed back before the next one opens.
- Map how members really use the club: main routes, busy hours, event days.
- Keep at least one safe, clear way in and out at every stage.
- Agree the order of zones with the club’s management, not only with the drawings.
- Don’t open a new zone just because a crew is free; a half-finished area left open is a risk and an eyesore.
02Keep members and the work apart
Members should never walk through a work area. Each active zone needs solid barriers, clear signs and a marked route around it. Where possible, workers and materials use a separate access, so deliveries never cross a members’ route.
Noisy and heavy work gets its own timetable. Demolition, cutting and large deliveries are booked for the quietest hours, agreed in advance with management, and kept away from events and peak days.
Members should feel the improvement, not the works.EMERGE Constructions
Walk the members’ routes at the end of every shift, as a member would. Loose cables, dust on the seating or a missing sign are easy to fix tonight and hard to explain tomorrow.
03The entrance sets the first impression
The entrance is the busiest point of any club, the first thing members and guests see, and the hardest place to work. It cannot simply close. It is usually rebuilt in parts, with one side or a temporary route kept open while the other is under works, so access is never cut.
It also deserves the most care in the details: levels that meet cleanly, surfaces that take heavy daily traffic, and lighting that makes it clear and welcoming after dark.
04Façades and lighting, renewed together
A façade renewal starts with repair, not paint. Cracks, loose render and damaged edges are treated first, or the new finish starts failing within a season or two. Scaffolding above a route members still use needs a protected passage underneath, or the route is moved.
Lighting is planned with the façade, not after it: fixture points and cable routes are fixed before the final finish, so nothing gets chased into a new wall. Much of club life in Egypt happens in the evening, when façade lighting is what members see first.
05Outdoor spaces, handed over area by area
Walkways, landscaping and seating are what members use most, so they are finished and returned one area at a time: levels and drainage first, then planting and irrigation, then seating and lighting. Each area is walked with the club’s management against a snag list before the barriers come down. Members get finished spaces back during the project, not only at the end.
What a club owner should plan for
- One decision-maker on the club side who can approve phasing quickly.
- The calendar of events and peak days, shared before works start.
- Time and budget for temporary barriers, signs, routes and lighting.
- Clear notices to members: what is closed, until when, and the way around.
- Acceptance area by area, not one final inspection.
Ismailia is one of several Ministry of Interior clubs we have worked on, alongside 6th of October City, El Tor, Damietta, Benha, New Valley and Mansoura. In Ismailia, we also redeveloped the same club’s VIP restaurant and built the conference hall of the Ismailia Security Directorate.
Every club is different, but the rule stays the same: plan the phasing before the design is final. Upgrading a club that has to stay open? Talk to our team about phasing it from day one.
