Government is planning to complete the construction of Berkeley Institute's new senior school by 2001.

Education Minister Jerome Dill last week told The Royal Gazette he was surprised when chairman of the school's board of governors, Calvin White, announced that the new school may not be completed until September 2003.

Last month, Mr. White told those gathered at a Berkeley Educational Society meeting several events had made the original completion date of December 2000 unattainable.

Berkeley's board expected schematic design drawings to be completed and available for review by the middle of last month; design development to be finished by February 15 next year; construction documents to be ready by July 31; bids and negotiations to be completed by August 15; construction to begin by October 15; and the new school to be completed by December 15, 2000.

But Mr. White said various events had transpired, the most significant was the knowledge gained from operations at CedarBridge Academy since its opening.

The board felt that to continue to proceed at the current pace of development without factoring in the knowledge gained from the CedarBridge experience "would be reckless'', he added.

"As a result, we are reviewing, in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, and the Department of Works, Engineering, Housing & Parks, the basis upon which the Berkeley design will proceed,'' Mr. White said. "This will unfortunately result in a further delay of the expected completion date which is now anticipated to be in the region of September 2003.'' However, Mr. Dill this week insisted that he did not expect the opening to be delayed by some three years. "The date we are working toward is no later than 2001 and if we can do anything to accelerate that, we will,'' he said.

"There are drafts of the designs. I think we do know where we want to go, but the last thing we want to do is go off cut.

"Out of the abundance of caution, we're saying we will hold off until we are 100 percent certain that the design is what it ought to be, and more important, the stakeholders are satisfied.

"That's the reason we don't want to make them (the designs) public yet.'' The timeframe outlined earlier this year by Mr. White was more of a wish list, than a schedule, Mr. Dill speculated.

"Until you've got the design finalised and plans, it's very difficult to know what you're building,'' he pointed out.

Mr. Dill added that the idea to build the senior school on a separate site was the Ministry's.

And he said officials from Berkeley and the Ministries of Education and Works and Engineering were in discussions on how to most effectively deliver the senior school curriculum and what curriculum will exist at the school during the interim.

Mr. White, when contacted last week, admitted that the 2003 deadline was "the worst case scenario''.

But he said: "Government can have a major part to play in making that wish come true by 2001, by voting in the funds and pushing forward with the project.

"I'd be the happiest person if the school is ready by 2001. I will pledge the support of the board.'' Mr. White said he also expected all parties involved to agree on the plans for the senior school soon.

"It will take 36 months to build the school, so that will have to start soon in order to be ready by 2001.''