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St Christopher's, one of Bahrain's leading independent schools, is planning to build a new senior school with state-of-the-art academic, drama, music and sporting facilities.
The 'iconic campus' will replace the existing Isa Town facility, initially accommodate 1,250 students and be designed to allow for further expansion to 1,600.
The school, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, is ideally seeking a site of 15 hectares (150,000sqm), although slightly smaller plots might be considered.
St Christopher's would prefer to obtain a site as close as possible to its recently-built infant and junior premises in Saar, but more remote locations will be considered, if they meet all other school requirements.
Global property consultant Knight Frank has been appointed by the board of governors as sole agents to source a location for the development.
School principal Ed Goodwin said: "St Christopher's is recognised as one of the pre-eminent British-style overseas schools in the world, providing fine education to children from more than 70 countries.
"To maintain and enhance this status, we aim to replace the current senior school premises at Isa Town with state-of-the-art facilities; not only for the academic side of school, but also for drama, music and other cultural events, as well as sports.
"We seek to develop a site that is architecturally striking and also iconic in the sense that its form will match perfectly with the functions it needs to fulfil.
"We aspire to offer educational opportunities that are the best to be found in international, British-style schools anywhere in the world - the new campus will help us to achieve this vision."
From its modest beginnings in a villa in 1961, St Christopher's has grown into a large, internationally-renowned, non-profit making school with more than 2,000 students from around 60 nations, aged from three to 18.
A new senior school would allow Mr Goodwin and his team of teachers to continue building on its academic achievements and developing the courses available. "In particular, the school's highly successful A'level and International Baccalaureate courses will expand significantly," he explained. "This will enable more students from around Bahrain to benefit from programmes that already gain access for St Christopher's students to universities such as Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, MIT, Durham, McGill and dozens more prestigious institutions around the globe."
Headquartered in London, Knight Frank and its New York-based global partner, Newmark Knight Frank, operate from 207 offices, in 43 countries, across six continents. It has been providing clients with Middle Eastern advice for the last eight years and has now established Knight Frank Middle East, headquartered in Bahrain.
Don Bradley, CEO of Knight Frank Middle East, said: "We are delighted to be advising St Christopher's on potential sites and have a carefully selected team who are reviewing suitable opportunities.
"The school's plans to develop a major new campus for its senior school boasting cutting-edge educational, cultural and sporting facilities including extensive playing fields are truly exciting. We invite property owners to contact us if they have suitable plots available."
