The Beaufort County (S.C.) school board has approved two contracts totaling $99 million for two of the largest projects in last year’s $345 million school bond referendum.
The Hilton Head Island Packet reports that JE Dunn Construction received a $53 million contract to demolish and rebuild Robert Smalls International Academy, a pre-kindergarten through eighth grade school in Beaufort.
M.B. Kahn Construction was awarded a $46 million contract to renovate academic and athletic facilities at Beaufort’s Battery Creek High School.
Construction at Robert Smalls will begin in summer 2021, and the new building, on the site of the existing school, will be completed in December 2022.
“Once students and staff are relocated to the new building in January 2023, the old building will be demolished,” the district says.
Rebuilding Robert Smalls was the highest-ticket item of the 2019 referendum, with a total estimated cost of $71 million to design and carry out the project.
LS3P Associates LTP has been selected as the architect for the new building.
The renovations at Battery Creek are scheduled for completion by August 2023, and will be done in phases so academic instruction will not have to be interrupted during construction.
Jumper Carter Sease Architects was selected to design the Battery Creek renovations, which will revamp HVAC, bathrooms and hallway lighting and add capacity for career classes.
