Students to Design Own School Building at Building Future Education MENA 2011

ABU DHABI, UAE, October 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Students from primary and secondary schools in Abu Dhabi will have a chance to design their own school building along with professional architects in "Design My Learning Space Live!" at Building Future Education MENA 2011, a fun and collaborative student competition intended to explore and address design challenges in schools.

The design competition is one of the highlights of this year's Building Future Education MENA 2011, the leading regional school building exhibition, organised in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) on October 25 and 26, 2011 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.

Sammon Group, a leader in social infrastructure and educational construction projects, is organising the design competition along with Broadway Maylan architects and UBM, to give students a platform where they can design their ideal learning environments.

"Sammon Group's support for "Design My Learning Space Live!" is in line with the company's dedication to support the MENA education sector and to develop state-of-the-art educational facilities to nurture the leaders of tomorrow. The design competition allows us to interact with and learn from the pupils about their views on their school buildings. In addition it allows pupils to recommend desired changes and improvements to their learning environment," said Miceál Sammon, Founder and Chief Executive Officer Sammon Group, which is delivering five schools in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain as part of the ADEC's Abu Dhabi Future School Programme.

Sammon Group is currently starting the roll out of its fast track design-and-build schools in rural areas in Saudi Arabia where they will build the facilities in just 22 weeks.

For "Design My Learning Space Live!" competition, students will work in a team to produce a handcrafted display school model during the Building Future Education MENA exhibition. The finished prototype will show how the right learning environment can make a real difference to children's learning.

Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) and Miceál Sammon, Founder and CEO of Sammon Group will judge the top school design project at the end of each day of the exhibition.

Andrew Pert, Regional Director of UBM Middle East, organisers of Building Future Education MENA 2011, said, "The right learning environment makes a real difference to delivering better learning outcomes. Even bigger benefits can be seen when young people play an active role in shaping their own space."

Schools which wish to take part in "Design My Learning Space Live!" or attend the school public awareness programme at Building Future Education MENA can contact the organiser, Jennifer Martin, UBM Middle East: +971-(0)-2-406-4471.

As well as "Design My Learning Space Live!",  Building Future Education MENA will feature an interactive exhibition floor, a full free-to-attend conference including world-renowned speakers from the field of education, the public awareness programme, and high-level roundtable forums.

The main conference will bring together those at the forefront of education from ministries, institutions, operators, architects and investors. The conference features in-depth panel discussions, based around specific research studies from BFE MENA's Knowledge Partners Booz & Company, Parthenon and RAND Corporation, assessing the education market in the GCC and areas of potential investment.

The conference will also cover key topics such as world-class facilities and learning environments, curriculum and school improvement, quality assurance, special education needs and sustainable education facilities.

Visitors can register now free at http://www.buildingfutureeducationmena.com. Building Future Education MENA will also have strong representation from the MENA region's education ministries and councils including United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Jordon and Lebanon.

About Sammon Group

Sammon Group (http://www.sammongroup.com) is a family business that delivers world class learning facilities for future generations, through its expert knowledge of education. Established in 1986 and headquartered in Ireland, the company which has operations in United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom specialises in designing, building and maintaining best in class education projects - safely, on time and in accordance with Clients' exacting quality, environmental and budget expectations. The Group has registered unprecedented success by delivering multiple education projects to Department of Education & Science in Ireland and GEMS Education in UAE. In July 2011, Sammon Group CEO Miceál Sammon, a former CEO of the year award recipient, was shortlisted for the Ernst & Young 2011 Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

About Building Future Education MENA

Building Future Education (BFE) MENA in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) is a free-to-attend international exhibition and conference covering educational spaces, management, reform, investment and operation of all educational institutions and programmes in the MENA region; and covers all tiers of education.

BFE MENA attracts strong representation from the MENA region's education ministries and councils including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Jordon and Lebanon, is organised by UBM Middle East.

Media, for all enquires including the knowledge partner reports and to register to attend please contact:

Anthon Garcia, press@buildingfutureeducationmena.com or +971-50-139-8661

For further information on Sammon Group, please contact:

Annemarie Franssen
Marketing Manager Sammon Group
annemarie.franssen@sammongroup.com
+971-50-600-31-29

For other marketing related enquiries:

Bryan Espie, Marketing Director, UBM Middle East, bryan.espie@ubm.com or +971-2-406-4471