About the Client
Inner-city church and denominational Christian ministry
The client is Eglise Inkuru-Nziza au Rwanda, a church movement with a strong evangelistic, discipleship, and leadership-development focus. The ministry priorities identified through the process included worship, lunch-hour fellowship, theological training, marketplace outreach, and long-term sustainability for ministry impact.
Project Challenge
Balancing ministry presence with redevelopment viability in Kigali CBD
The core challenge was to determine how the church could retain a meaningful presence on a prominent central-city property while responding to current code requirements, urban planning constraints, infrastructure realities, and the need for a financially viable mixed-use development model. Market demand, zoning flexibility, and sustainable income generation all had to be tested before moving forward.
MMM South Africa’s Involvement
Project support, coordination, and client-side engagement alongside eMi South Africa
MMM South Africa was involved in the project process and reporting, including representation on the ground in Kigali and coordination around stakeholder engagement and next-step documentation. eMi South Africa was engaged to carry out the feasibility study, site assessment, concept development, and architectural and engineering direction-setting for the proposed redevelopment.
Technical disciplines involved
Architecture, civil engineering, structural engineering, urban/planning review, infrastructure assessment, and financial feasibility
The work brought together architectural and engineering input with site analysis, planning and zoning review, infrastructure investigation, property market research, and high-level financial feasibility testing. The team composition explicitly included architectural, civil, and structural expertise, and the later viability study expanded the work into services, options testing, and financial modelling.
Key result, learning or implementation outcome
Preferred mixed-use concept identified with church presence retained
The project progressed from initial assessment into a preferred redevelopment direction: a mixed-use scheme that retains a meaningful church presence while improving commercial viability through office and retail components. The chosen Option 2 was identified as the best balance between ministry priorities and long-term income generation, with positive engagement from city authorities and no zoning change required for church use as a conditional use.
Project Location
Kigali, Rwanda
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