McAlpine Ltd. has been awarded a $5.53 million contract to complete the final phases of the John Gray High School campus.
Work on the long-awaited last parts of the project – which involves the demolition of the Cayman Islands Further Education Centre campus and completion of the new high school sports fields – is expected to start in October.
In an email response to Cayman Compass, the Education Ministry said the Public Procurement Committee had approved the final part of the project on 12 July and, following a “thorough evaluation process”, the contract was awarded to McAlpine.
“We expect to execute the contract this month, with work scheduled to commence in October. This represents a delay of approximately five weeks from our initial projections,” the ministry said.
As well as the demolition of the CIFEC campus and building the new sports fields, another outstanding part of the project is the repurposing of the former George Hicks High School site.
The knock-on effect of the delays left the Cayman Islands Further Education Centre without a home for the new school term.
Extended handover leads to delays
The ministry, in explaining the latest delay, said the primary cause was the “extended handover process” of the repurposing of George Hicks, which had to be completed before the next phase could begin.
“Our aim is to ensure a smooth transition between projects to maintain overall efficiency and quality,” the ministry said.
It added that with the decision to proceed with the project now made, as evidenced by the contract award, the project will move to the final stages of contract execution and project initiation.
“The Ministry of Education understands the public’s interest in this project. We remain committed to transparency and will provide regular updates as the project progresses,” it added.
This latest development in the ongoing saga surrounding the multi-million-dollar high school comes more than a year after it was officially opened last March with much fanfare and celebration, despite the incomplete final phases.
Government has been struggling to move forward with the final phases of the project, which has stretched on for more than 15 years and has already cost tens of millions of dollars.
Earlier this year, the Education Ministry told the Compass that the John Gray High School final phases were facing a six-month delay “primarily due to logistic issues” related to the delays in the completion of the high school campus.
The spokesperson said then that the necessary repairs at the existing George Hicks site had further extended the timeline for the relocation of the Cayman Islands Further Education Centre and other users from the Walkers Road site.
The challenges created by the ongoing delays played out quite recently when CIFEC students and parents learned at the start of the school term that a location to hold classes was still unconfirmed.
The day before the official registration for CIFEC began on 28 Aug., education officials informed parents that the Walkers Road school would need to temporarily operate from a different site due to “unexpected delays in completing the renovations to the former George Hicks site”.
The short notice of the situation, coming on the eve of class registration, triggered outrage from some parents who took to social media to vent their frustrations.
A temporary solution for the situation started on Monday, with classes divided between two locations and a shift teaching system.
Practical classes are to be held daily at the new John Gray High School from 2pm to 4:30pm, while theory sessions will take place at the Family Life Centre earlier in the day.
The announcement of the new arrangements came months after asbestos was also confirmed at the CIFEC campus.
The presence of asbestos at the CIFEC site was contained in the findings of a pre-demolition inspection report prepared in February 2023 as part of the new John Gray High School project.
Long road to project completion
The final phase of the school project, which will commence next month, comprises CIFEC demolition, asbestos removal, ground preparation, drainage, underground ducting, and installation of the new sports playing field facilities, multi-use games areas, and basketball and netball courts, together with any ‘fixed’ equipment and fencing.
That will be the final step in the long-running history of the high school project.
In 2020, the Ministry of Education said the final phases of the new John Gray High School could cost more than $106 million.
In October 2019, KPMG’s outline business case for completing the John Gray project was approved by the steering committee and it presented options on how to proceed for each of three defined phases.
The first of the three projects had been approved for $76.37 million, with the limit of all three projects a total of $106.2 million, then Ministry of Education Deputy Chief Officer Wilbur Welcome had said.
By 2012, $54.4 million had been spent on the school, and about $8.8 million was spent to finish the school gymnasium ahead of the 2017 election.
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