A master plan for Fasouri School — a major educational and sports complex in the municipality of Kato Polemidia in Limassol — has been submitted to the relevant authorities for review. The project envisages the creation of three independent school complexes covering all levels of education, from preschool to upper secondary school. Each school will include modern classrooms, specialised science laboratories, libraries, and spaces for art and music classes.
According to the submitted data, the complex is designed for 4,500 students. It will employ 145 teaching and administrative staff. Transport infrastructure will include 643 parking spaces for cars and 57 spaces for buses. The total usable area of the project will amount to 307,844 m2.
Sports centre with a swimming pool, padel courts and football fields
The second major part of the project is a sports centre. It is planned to include a multifunctional indoor hall, football and tennis courts, a swimming pool, an athletics stadium, a gym, basketball courts, and squash and padel courts.
Facilities for athlete recovery are also planned. Under certain conditions, the sports infrastructure may be used not only by students but also by the wider public. Fasouri Academy and Sports Hub is therefore conceived not simply as a private school, but as a major educational and sports cluster that could become a new focal point for the western part of Limassol.
7,083 trees may be cut down for construction
The most controversial issue surrounding the project remains its environmental impact. The planned development affects environmentally sensitive land plots with a total area of around 360,000 m2. Under the planning regime of the British Sovereign Base Area of Akrotiri, the plots fall within Zone Z1, a protection zone. A smaller part of the site lies within the Republic of Cyprus and is classified as agricultural zone Ga2.
A total of 10,707 trees have been counted on the site, mainly cypress, mandarin and pomegranate trees. According to the project, 7,083 trees are planned to be removed, including 4,309 pomegranate trees and 2,774 mandarin trees, as well as rows of cypresses. A total of 3,624 fruit trees are expected to be preserved. As a compensatory measure, the project proposes planting 2,800 new trees: 1,738 cypresses, 689 pine trees and 373 trees for urban landscaping.
Fasouri is becoming a major development zone
The project is being considered against the backdrop of rapid development in the area. Within a radius of around 1 km are already located Fasouri Watermania, My Mall Limassol and City of Dreams Mediterranean. Other major projects are also under consideration, including Limassol Greens Golf Resort by Lanitis Golf, as well as residential developments by Emerland Real Estate, Brightbuild Properties and AN Sky Garden.
At the same time, Fasouri School is still at the approval stage. Approval of the master plan does not automatically constitute permission to begin construction: the next stage will involve separate procedures for planning and building permits. Therefore, the start date for construction has not yet been determined.