A joint venture of Bouygues Construction subsidiary Americaribe, Suffolk Construction and Florida architectural firm Zyscovich has won two design and build contracts in the US Virgin Islands worth a total of €1.45bn.
The team will modernise 10 school facilities and two administrative buildings on the islands of St Thomas and St Croix that were damaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.
The client is the Virgin Islands Office of Disaster Recovery, part of the Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority.
In St Thomas, they’ll work on a 52,200-sq-m site to rebuild, modernise and extend six schools to accommodate 4,060 children from pre-kindergarten to high school and 150 staff members.
In St Croix, the team will work on four schools covering 60,650 sq m, adding classrooms, science and IT labs, libraries, specialist teaching facilities and collaborative spaces for 3,785 students.
The buildings have been designed to withstand strong winds and include hurricane shelters and secure rooms.
600 employees will work on site at the project’s peak.
Solar panels will provide 115% of the schools’ energy requirements.
Construction will proceed in phases to allow school activities to continue uninterrupted.
Design work for the St Thomas project began early 2025, with the last facility handover scheduled for early 2031.
Pre-construction in St Croix began in February 2026, with phases delivered progressively until March 2031.
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