There was a phrase echoing around the corridors and classrooms of the grand new Berkeley Institute last week. As teachers rushed around getting things ready for the students who start at the school today, each uttered an almost identical comment: ?It?s been a long time coming, but it was worth the wait.?

There is no doubt that the building in Berkeley Road, Pembroke, has had more than its fair share of setbacks. Originally slated to open in September 2003, it will finally become fully functional today, three years late and more than $50 million over budget.

A row between Government and the original contractor, Pro-Active Management, culminated in a private arbitration hearing, believed to have been held last week. And in February, construction expert Gabriel Martel claimed there were hundreds of safety deficiencies at the site ? allegations strenuously refuted by Works and Engineering Minister David Burch.

All of this has meant one thing only for the pupils and teachers at Berkeley ? a lengthy delay in beginning the work of learning and educating in new, better, more spacious surroundings.

Keisha Douglas, the school?s instructional leader of mathematics, utters the golden phrase as she drags boxes of books into her new air-conditioned classroom: ?It?s been a long time coming,? she sighs. ?At the old building, I had to share a class with a social studies teacher. We had no air conditioning and by the time I taught my first lesson I was uncomfortable. In September, the sweat would be dripping. You can?t perform really well under adverse conditions.?

Her face lights up as she glances around her new surroundings in a corridor containing all but one of the maths classrooms and overlooking a courtyard.

?It?s exciting,? she says. ?It?s new and it?s fresh.? She describes how the senior one (S1) students ? who had a sneak preview of the school during their orientation week last month ? reacted.

?They were excited being around here. You see the flashes of light in their eyes. Just to see the little stars in their eyes shows me they are ready. A new building can?t make better students but it can give them a better attitude.?

Principal Michelle Simmons agrees. She tells of meeting a student in the street during the holidays who asked her: ?Which school are we going to in September??. She says: ?I said ?of course, the new one?. He just lit right up because it?s been promised for so long.?

As the S1 students discovered, it?s hard not to feel bowled over by the new Berkeley. From its elevated position on a hillside overlooking the North Shore to its delicate green exterior (representing one of the school?s two houses, the other being gold), it reeks quality.

Once inside, the advantages afforded to its students become immediately apparent. The light-filled entrance hall features an impressive staircase leading to one of Mrs. Simmons? favourite spots ?- the upper atrium.

In the style of an ancient Greek theatre, the high-ceilinged auditorium features a huge screen, the latest audio visual equipment, windows that can be blacked out and a control booth connected to the school?s computer network.

?It will be used for all kinds of presentations, career events, assemblies and to show films,? says Mrs. Simmons. ?It has so many practical uses.?

Close by is a feature with another practical purpose ? one of four elevators in the building, enabling disabled students to access all five floors. There is also a ramp leading into the school.

Mrs. Simmons says that in the old 104-year-old building one wheelchair-bound pupil was unable to attend certain lessons because of the awkward location of classrooms.

?For her being in this building will be such a difference,? she says. ?I?m so happy for her. She?s so looking forward to September 11.?

The new structure, which measures between 250,000 and 300,000 square feet, will house 640 students and 104 staff members, including about 70 teachers.

It has been built with the latest technology in mind: from this term, every pupil will have their own laptop and each classroom is equipped to enable them to use it.

Each teaching space has an overhead LCD projector, which can show everything from films to PowerPoint presentations.

?Because we are in this state-of-the-art facility where technology is going to be the order of the day, we have put laptops in at the S1 level for the first time,? explains the principal. ?These are purchased through the school but parents bear 75 percent of the cost and the school puts in 25 percent.

?We ask families that have financial difficulties to contact us because we?ll sit down and make arrangements.?

Mrs. Simmons, who began her career as a science teacher, looks longingly around a pristine biology lab with its own fish tank and an amazing view of the Atlantic. ?I wish I could still teach,? she says.

Each classroom we visit features a telephone, an LCD clock synchronised with the computer network, a speaker for the PA system and an air conditioning unit.

Students will benefit for the first time this term from lockers with a helmet hook and space for books and their computer.

And those pupils requiring special attention now have their own learning support centre.

?Academically challenged children who require additional support will be in here working in small groups,? says Mrs. Simmons.

?They are not confined to these two rooms but these are two of the spaces set aside especially for providing support for these students.?

The headteacher leads the way into the seminar room, where new teachers, many of them from abroad, are taking part in an orientation session led by deputy principal Henry James.

Next up is the library and resource centre where technician Nikki Bowers is inserting green security sensors into the Institute?s 7,000-plus books.

She explains that the new 3M security system will stop books being taken out of the library without being checked out.

?We are very excited about all our new books,? she says. ?For people who love books like myself, the idea of picking all these new books and the thought that what you have selected is going to be here for the next generation of students is exciting.?

Mrs. Simmons describes the nearby courtyard overlooked by the maths and other general classrooms as ?a very special space?.

It?s true that the canopied area has an air of real tranquillity, dotted with palm trees which were on the site prior to the new building being erected and have now been reinstated.

It also features performance areas where Mrs. Simmons says ?we expect students to be sharing their talents, probably showcasing their dramatic work, maybe having debates and public speaking?.

All of the classrooms have been designed in pairs with an area in between for computer work and quiet study.

English teacher Scott Morkin says the space will lend itself to more one-on-one work with children.

?This is definitely a step in the right direction,? he says of the school. ?Technically, it?s a big, big improvement. The teachers will have a little bit of a bounce in their step. I think everybody will be happy to be here.?

He is just one of the many staff members who have worked during the school holidays to empty the old building and get the new one up-and-running.

Family studies teacher Marcia Henry-Young is another. As she unpacks box after box of shining pots and pans in the food, nutrition and textiles block, she considers the possibilities of her new workspace.

?We were quite limited in what we were able to do but with the equipment and facilities it?s definitely going to add more scope,? she says.

The kitchens themselves would not look out of place in a catering firm and Mrs. Simmons hopes the students will host suppers there featuring their culinary creations.

But if the food block is to be admired, it is nothing compared to Berkeley?s new gym, housed in a separate building to the main school and featuring an NBA-sized basketball court and high-tech workout rooms.

Mrs. Simmons claims it?s impossible to walk into the gym for the first time with emitting the word ?wow?. She?s right ? the steep row of wooden slatted benches, the court marked out in gold and green and the vast ceiling are quite something.

?It?s been for generations that we have needed a new gym,? says Mrs. Simmons. ?We have never been able to host when we play basketball. Now we can. The other schools will flock here.?

As she looks down at the court, a figure appears below: Arnold Manders, a Berkeleyite, the school?s head of PE and health and a former Cup Match captain for St. George?s.

Mrs. Simmons says that he has visited the gym every day since March to check its progress. Mr. Manders admits that?s true, adding the now oft-repeated phrase: ?It?s been a long time coming.? He adds: ?It?s probably going to be the best facility on the Island for everything.?

As he leads the way into the workout area, it becomes clear again just how privileged Berkeley?s students will be.

They are to have access to weights and cardiovascular rooms worthy of a top-notch gym.

The rooms will be used for teaching and children may be able to use them outside of lessons, though that?s yet to be decided.

A state-of-the-art ?tri-fitness? station will assess each pupil at the start of term, measuring their fitness levels, blood pressure, weight, body fat, strength and flexibility and producing a personalised nutrition and training plan which they?ll be able to access on their laptops. The students will be assessed again at the middle and end of term.

Mr. Manders says: ?This will tackle obesity, help the children to be healthy and will in the long-term save Government money. We want to do it with the students and are also encouraging the teachers to come down and do it.?

Berkeley?s leaders are well aware that it will take more than fancy gadgets and pretty courtyards to increase the graduation rate at the school.

But Calvin White, chairman of the board of governors, thinks the building will have a positive impact.

?This is a fantastic facility,? he says. ?It?s going to provide us with additional space so we don?t have the cramping issues. It?s really going to prove a more pleasant environment for teachers to do their work in. They?ll have more resources at their disposal.?

Mrs. Simmons doesn?t doubt the benefits it can bring. She has been head for the past 13 years and has seen the difficulties caused by lack of space and teaching in portable units.

?That?s why we appreciate this so much because we used every nook and cranny in the old school,? she says. ?We ran out of storage space.?

She says teachers themselves helped with the design and couldn?t be more pleased with the results. ?It wasn?t just left to architects and people who wouldn?t be involved in the day-to-day operations of the school.

?We did have input and I think that?s why it?s turned out so fantastically. We have been able to expand the courses offered.

?We are now able to provide students with a more reliable computer infrastructure so we are expecting that not only will they be able to work with the latest in technology but they?ll also be learning skills that they can transfer to college, university or the world of work. They will be technologically ready.?

As she heads back to her own modest office, close to the atrium, she adds: ?This is more than I had hoped for. It?s a brilliant facility. It was well worth the wait. That?s what I say every day.?