Ground was broken yesterday on a new building at Warwick Academy which will be named after a senator who has given decades of service to the school.

The Walwyn Hughes Building, half the cost of which has been funded by the Byrne family, will contain five new classrooms. Mark Byrne, chairman of Flagstone Re, requested that the building's name honour the Senate vice president.

Sen. Hughes, whose four children attended Warwick and whose wife Betsey was an administrative assistant to various headmasters there for 17 years, said he was touched by the gesture.

"It's a high honour and I'm very excited this has been done and indebted to Mark Byrne for considering me for the honour. I was for many years on the board (of governors) and went back in 1994 and was chairman for ten years.

"We have had a long association with the school, I guess. I'm not sure if that qualifies me for what Mr. Byrne has proposed but I'm very pleased."

Father-of-four Mr. Byrne, whose three eldest children are at Warwick, said the family donated $600,000 towards the building. "I think people who do good things inspire other people to do good things," he said of Sen. Hughes, whom he met when they were joint vice chairmen of Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences.

"Sen. Hughes has done an awful lot of good for Bermuda in his lifetime. I just think he's a great role model for young Bermudians as an example of what a lifetime of public service can be."

School principal Maggie McCorkell said the school was thankful for the Byrnes' generosity. She said she hoped to do an audit of the school and the location of all its classrooms once it was completed.

Mrs. McCorkell said: "Dr. Hughes has long been a part of Warwick Academy. His leadership saw the school leave the government system and become a leader in the private school system. It is because of the school's success and popularity that the much needed space is required."

She added: "Warwick is thrilled to have this building made a reality. The school has still more funds to raise in order to pay for the building and will be inviting people and companies to invest in the school. There is no sounder investment than the youth of today."