Garden International School Marks 75 Years With a RM185 Million Campus Rebuild
The Kuala Lumpur school celebrated its founding anniversary this week as its RM85 million performing arts centre, the final phase of a two-stage campus overhaul, moves toward a year-end opening.
Garden International School gathered its community on Tuesday to mark 75 years of operation in Kuala Lumpur, a milestone that coincides with the most extensive campus transformation in the school's history. The two-phase project, totalling RM185 million, is now in its final stretch, according to Study International, with a performing arts centre carrying an RM85 million price tag due to complete before the end of 2026.
Phase one, a five-storey, 200,000-square-foot sports complex costing RM100 million, opened in November 2025. The facility includes an Olympic-sized swimming pool, two indoor basketball courts, a FIFA-standard football pitch, two tennis courts, and a fully equipped gym. School leadership opened the pool and sports hall to the public, framing the investment as a contribution to Malaysia's broader grassroots sports development agenda.
A 560-seat theatre to follow the pool
Phase two centres on the performing arts centre. The centrepiece is a 560-seat theatre designed for concerts, productions, and community performances, supported by drama rehearsal studios, a black box theatre, dedicated music and dance spaces, and a creative arts wing. The school is targeting completion in the final months of 2026.
Leadership has been deliberate in describing the programme as enhancement rather than growth. The school has stated explicitly that student capacity is not being increased at either of its two campuses, in Mont Kiara and Sri Hartamas, which together serve around 2,000 pupils.
GIS was founded in 1951 and sits within the Taylor's Schools group, which has been building its Southeast Asian footprint steadily, including the purchase of four St Andrews International School campuses in Thailand earlier this year. GIS itself offers the Cambridge IGCSE and A-Levels, with 68 per cent of its A-Level students reaching A* or A in 2026. The RM185 million spend is one of the largest single-school infrastructure commitments in Malaysia's international education sector in recent years, and, with no expansion attached, positions the school as competing on facilities rather than on enrolment scale.