The Old Prison
An area on the existing (listed historical) Project Gateway site was chosen as the physical home of the school. The reason for this decision was due to the infrastructure of the building, the counselling and management team. The location itself is an old prison, now converted into a centre for several church-based projects that work towards meeting people in their crisis need, and empowering them to be self-sufficient. An old wood-making workshop (mainly used to build coffins) was the ideal space for the fashion studio. A team of volunteers from the UK helped with the initial site clearance in 2007, leaving the way open for the building and development of the modern light infused fashion school, housing a wide range of technical equipment. Once a prison that once held Indian peace protester Mahatma Gandhi, Gateway is now a hub of activity with a range of projects aimed towards empowering disadvantaged people from the surrounding area of Pietermaritzburg, a province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Project Gateway consists of several buildings from an apartheid prison, which dates back 127 years, which detained many freedom fighters during the struggles in South Africa. The prison closed in 1989 with the site being donated to three churches in 1991. The English, African and Zulu churches all wanted to provide a safe environment for income generating projects. With apartheid ending in 1991 Project Gateway aims to serve the community through social outreach projects and is a Non Governmental Organization (NGO). Project Gateway has donated several buildings to the Gateway School of Fashion.
The workshop before and after the development