Why Runwal Realty is Building Schools Inside Its Communities

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For most homebuyers, a good school is something you commute to, not something you already live beside. Runwal Realty is trying to change that equation. The developer has announced plans to build three new schools across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), starting with an International Baccalaureate (IB) campus in Chembur, with further campuses proposed for Mulund and Thane.

This blog looks at what Runwal Realty has announced about its education initiative, what the Chembur campus is expected to include, and why building a school inside a residential community, rather than simply near one, is becoming part of how the developer thinks about a gated community and integrated township.

Runwal Realty’s New Education Initiative Across the MMR

Runwal Realty has announced plans to establish three new schools across the MMR, with the first phase centred on an International Baccalaureate campus in Chembur. Announcing the initiative, Saurabh Runwal, Director, Runwal Realty, said education is one of the key pillars of community development, and that the schools are intended to create long-term social infrastructure alongside the company’s residential projects. He added that the goal is to improve access to quality education while contributing to the overall growth of the communities where Runwal Realty builds.

The Chembur campus marks the first phase of this education infrastructure push. Two further campuses are proposed for Mulund and Thane, intended to form part of a broader network that expands access to quality education within Runwal Realty’s integrated urban developments. The strategy fits with the company’s wider approach of developing integrated townships and mixed-use communities that build social infrastructure alongside residential and commercial space, rather than treating schools, hospitals, and retail as places residents have to travel to.

Inside the Upcoming International School in Chembur

The Chembur campus is being planned as an International Baccalaureate institution, designed to provide globally aligned education to students from Chembur and the surrounding eastern suburbs. According to the announcement, the campus will be developed in a green setting with a ground-plus-seven-story built-up structure.

Among its key facilities will be a playground spanning more than 12,000 sq. ft., along with dedicated spaces for sports, technology-enabled learning, and extracurricular activities. The school is being designed to support both academic and holistic development, positioning it as one of the more anticipated international schools in Chembur once it opens. The project is expected to complement the rapid residential and infrastructure growth already underway across Mumbai’s eastern corridor.

Why a School on Campus Changes What a Gated Community Offers

Most residential developments treat education as a location factor: buyers check the map for nearby schools and factor the commute into their decision. Building a school inside the community changes that calculation in a few concrete ways. The daily school run becomes a walk or a short ride rather than a fixed commute across traffic, which matters most on the mornings and afternoons that shape a family’s whole routine. It also means the school is designed alongside the residences, rather than being a separate institution that happens to be nearby, so its scale, security, and facilities can be planned as part of the same integrated township rather than retrofitted into whatever land was available.

This is also a shift in how developers define a gated community, which used to mean security and shared amenities, such as a clubhouse or a garden. Increasingly, for developers positioning themselves around education infrastructure, it means the residential project is designed with the assumption that a family’s school-age children, and not just its adults commuting to work, are part of what the development needs to serve.

What’s Next: Mulund, Thane, and the Road Ahead

Beyond Chembur, Runwal Realty has proposed further schools in Mulund and Thane as part of the same initiative, intended to extend the network of residential projects with schools across more of its MMR portfolio.

The publicly available announcement does not yet include a timeline, specific site, or opening date for the Mulund and Thane campuses, so these should currently be read as a stated direction for the company’s education strategy rather than confirmed, dated projects. Buyers interested in either location should confirm the current status directly with Runwal Realty before treating a school as a settled feature of a specific project.