Bouygues Construction completes 160,000 sq m Amazon distribution centre near Lyon

A Bouygues Construction-led consortium handed over a three-storey, 160,000 sq m Amazon distribution centre at Colombier-Saugnieu, east of Lyon, France, on 7 July 2026. The facility, coded LYS2, is Amazon's ninth owned distribution centre in France and represents a total investment of more than €200m^[1].

Scale and structure

The building measures 359m long, 154m wide and 19m tall, with a footprint of 60,000 sq m on the ground and two upper levels that bring total usable area to 160,000 sq m^[1]. The layout divides by function:

• Ground floor: dispatch docks, goods reception, sorting and packaging areas
• Upper levels: storage and order-picking areas served by autonomous vehicles
• High-precision floor slabs on the upper levels to meet the flatness tolerances required by automated handling equipment^[1]

The structural frame is prestressed concrete with columns, beams and hollow-core slabs. The east and south façades use translucent insulated interlocking polycarbonate cladding panels - a specification driven by the site's proximity to Lyon-Saint-Exupéry international airport - while the north and west sides are finished with rockwool sandwich panelling^[1].

Delivery method

The consortium brought together four Bouygues group businesses - Bouygues Bâtiment Industrie, Colas (Perrier), Equans France (Ineo and Axima) - plus architect Archi-Factory^[1]. Construction ran for 20 months. To compress Amazon's fit-out timeline, the team structured seven phased early-access handovers, allowing Amazon to install equipment while construction was still under way; 600 Amazon employees were on site throughout a six-month overlap period^[1].

Guillaume Allais, Bouygues Bâtiment Industrie's regional director, said the project demonstrated the company's ability "to manage large-scale operations in the logistics sector" and that its success rested on "meticulous organisation and close coordination between all parties involved"^[1].

A long road to completion

The project had been on the table since 2018 but spent years clearing legal challenges before groundwork could begin. Bouygues Bâtiment Industrie then delivered the shell in 20 months. The site sits almost directly in line with Lyon-Saint-Exupéry's runways, a constraint that shaped both the cladding specification and the planning history.

Amazon has signalled that LYS2 will not be its last large French build. Two sites of around 110,000 sq m are in the pipeline - one in Eure-et-Loir and another near Beauvais - and a multi-storey warehouse of more than 180,000 sq m is planned in Alsace. How quickly those projects clear permitting, and whether Bouygues retains a role in them, will be the next measure of the group's position in France's logistics construction market.