Image Credit: CFJC Today

By James Peters

Building Sector

RIH tower foundation permit pushes June toward record territory for building sector

Jul 4, 2019 | 4:59 AM

KAMLOOPS — A big month of June has the City of Kamloops nearing $150 million in building permits issued at the halfway point in 2019.

Builders took out $50.5 million in permits last month. Building and Engineering Development Manager Jason Dixon says that may represent a monthly record for the City.

The majority of that value came from the $33.6 million foundation permit issued for the Royal Inland Hospital Patient Care Tower. Dixon says as the $417 million tower project is erected over the coming years, more very large permits will need to be issued.

“We’ll see that as other permits for that project come in over the next couple of years — a permit will come in the door and there will be a much larger than normal construction value attached to it,” said Dixon.

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The hot building month pushed the year-to-date total to $148.1 million — a 25 per cent increase over the same time period during the record 2018 building year.

Even taking the huge hospital project out of the picture, Dixon notes the local construction sector is very busy.

“If we were to take that $33 million off of our total to date, it would put us back in the $115 million range, which would only be $3 million in construction value behind where we were at this time last year, which turned out to be a record year.”

“One (major project in June apart from the RIH tower) is tenant improvements at the Aberdeen Mall for a Marshall’s store. That was [$1.5 million]. There were some repairs that are happening at the Sagebrush Theatre, some roof repairs there. And we issued a site servicing permit for a multi-family project on Ord Road that’s underway. That was quite significant at $3 million.”

The City recorded a total of 28 residential starts in June, and the housing sector remains slightly slower than last year’s pace. Dixon says that’s not too concerning.

“By all indication, things are going quite well. Some sectors have a little more activity than others from year to year, but that’s pretty normal,” said Dixon. “That’s why we concentrate on that overall value.”