The first phase of the new St Regis hotel project in St George’s could be complete in three years.

Miguel Purroy, director of Hotelco Bermuda Holdings, said major construction on the site could begin once work to reroute Barry Road is done.

Mr Purroy said: “If we start piling and foundations in January, we could be completing the first phase of the resort, including the hotel, residences and all the amenities, by the end of 2020 or beginning of 2021.”

But Mr Purroy warned that estimates on project completion could be difficult on islands such as Bermuda.

He explained: “It is not that the Government or the civil servants are not supportive of the project.

“On the contrary, they have all been very supportive, but the system is sometimes not meant to facilitate things.”

Mr Purroy said the work to reroute Barry Road, needed because of a new configuration of buildings on the old Club Med hotel site, was going well and expected to be finished by the end of this month.

He added: “Next week the paving and asphalt will start, together with the lighting works.

“A nice new roundabout at the end of the road will facilitate public access to the beach, Fort St Catherine and Blackbeard’s Restaurant.

“We did have a delay because of the need to redesign the layout of the road in order to preserve a well of historical value that served Fort St Catherine.”

The route of Barry Road has to be moved west to allow space for the hotel to be built between the road and the beach.

The first phase of work on the site includes the main hotel, a casino, a spa, the first two condominium buildings and the revamped golf course.

Mr Purroy said: “The golf course will undergo a complete renovation, but we will be preserving the original Robert Trent Sr design.”

He added Hotelco wanted to hire as many Bermudian subcontractors for the project as possible.

M Purroy said: “No fewer than three-quarters of the job will be done by Bermudian contractors and Bermudian workers.

“We have been very positively surprised by the quality and quantity of the existing construction capacities on the island.”