The Ministry of Works and Engineering yesterday began the hand-over phase of the Berkeley Senior Secondary School to the Ministry of Education and Development.

Zones A and B are the first in a series of hand-overs and consist of classrooms in the western part of the school.

Works and Engineering Minister Ashfield DeVent said additional zones would be given their Certificate of Occupancy over the course of the next six weeks.

The completion of the process will bring the final stages of the project to an end, ultimately giving the Ministry of Education and Development full ownership of the school by October.

As previously reported, full occupancy of the new school premises will only occur in January next year.

?There are seven sections that will be handed over in the next few weeks and since early this year, the Ministry of Works and Engineering?s construction team has kept the transition team from the Ministry of Education and Development informed of the progress of the construction to assist them in the subsequent fit out of the individual zones of the school,? he said.

Upon completion, the new school will house state-of-the-art facilities including computer science labs, a design and technology unit, an NBA sized gymnasium and a Cafetorium (cafeteria and auditorium) that can be used by the general community.

Mr. DeVent said the school would be able to house about 850 students and will offer a variety of specialised courses in such areas as a computer graphics and design and technology labs.

Earlier this month Education Minister Terry Lister said 566 students were registered at Berkeley Institute for the coming year ? an increase of 62 students.

He attributed the increase at Berkeley to the transition to the new campus next year and said over the next few years the Ministry hoped to see the numbers of the two schools ?balance out?.

There are 1,020 students registered at CedarBridge Academy this year ? an increase of 38 students.

Mr. Lister hoped to have Berkeley take on an additional 150 students ? possibly even from CedarBridge Academy ? in the future.

Work began on the Berkeley Senior Secondary School on June 18, 2001 with a then-projected completion date of September 4, 2003.

However in August 2004 ? a year past the completion date ? Pro-Active?s contract was cancelled and three months later Somers Construction continued with work on the project that was estimated to be around $81 million. This compares to the original bid from Pro-Active for just over $68 million.

In March this year Government announced the first phase of the new school would be completed by September, but a few weeks later the Berkeley PTSA vowed to push for a September 2006 opening, despite Government?s assurance that students would not be moved to a ?construction site?.

In June this year the Government announced pupils and staff would move to a completed campus in January 2006, a decision backed by the Berkeley PTSA.