Gareth is committed to the radical new design of school buildings believing that most current schools inhibit students learning in this rapidly changing world. He hs been involved with new school build in a number of capacities both in the UK and Cayman and works extensivley with some of the worlds leading 21st century visionaries.
In the UK he is now a senior consultant to one of the UK's biggest and most successful construction companies involved with the massive 'Building Schools of the Future' project. Working as Education Group Leader he is involved on a range of projects around the UK, as well as being involved in other national and international work.
In the Cayman Islands his role over three years involved considerable national strategic planning and implementation, with research and advice at Ministerial level. (2005 - 2008)
With the Cayman Islands commitment to building four new 21st century learning environments (three secondary and one primary), Gareth has been involved from the very start of the consultation process, involving all stakeholders and is centrally involved in ensuring the planning becomes reality.
The new secondary campuses are based on the "school within a school" model. This follows the extremely successful experiences gained from splitting a 1,000 strong dsyfunctional school over a 9 acre site into four separate schools. Gareth led the highly successful total campus transformation over a period of just 15 weeks, including all construction, infrastructure, organisational and identity aspects. This very positive experience has been a significant contributor to the design of the new campuses being developed.
The new learning environments being built are designed to promote total agilty and be capable of continuously reconfiguring themselves. They will allow project based learning rather than discipline based learning and will able teachers to respond to the "blurring" between phases and specific subjects. The ongoing trend towards longer lessons and interdisciplinary coursework reduces the need for student movement and increased effective use of spaces to allow for a variet of teaching and learning styles. They are also being designed for 24/7/360 use.
"These buildings, as much as any school in the world, will allow endless change in future teaching styles". Mr Rick Dewar,Principal Architect, oWp/p.
Working very closely with Fielding Nair International and awarding winning architects like oWp/p and CS&P Architects there is no doubt that the schools being developed in the Cayman Islands will absolutely be the best in the region.
Other Projects: Gareth is also engaged with a small international team on a major project concerning school designs of the future with colleagues from the UK, USA, Canada and Germany..... more on this exciting project to follow!
The new secondary campuses are based on the "school within a school" model. This follows the extremely successful experiences gained from splitting a 1,000 strong dsyfunctional school over a 9 acre site into four separate schools. Gareth led the highly successful total campus transformation over a period of just 15 weeks, including all construction, infrastructure, organisational and identity aspects. This very positive experience has been a significant contributor to the design of the new campuses being developed.