File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Building Sector

RIH project looms large as City of Kamloops predicts strong 2020 for construction

Jan 3, 2020 | 10:46 AM

KAMLOOPS — They can’t go on forever, but the City of Kamloops building chief says a fourth straight record year in 2020 is not out of question.

City hall issued $288.3 million in permits last year, marking the third straight year of record-setting performance for the local construction sector.

Building and Engineering Development Manager Jason Dixon says the $417 million Royal Inland Hospital Patient Care Tower project was responsible for about $44 million of last year’s total — and will have a huge impact on the 2020 numbers.

“My understanding at this point would be two permits to kind of get the outer part of the building done and then the inside done. That could be hundreds of millions of dollars there,” Dixon told CFJC Today. “So I would think 2020, numbers-wise, could be very, very big.”

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Dixon says the RIH project is a game-changer for the city, considering its size and impact on the regional economy. Removing that project from the conversation, Dixon says Kamloops would be subject to more typical ebbs and flows in the industry.

“I predicted all of 2019 that it wouldn’t be a third record in a row and I have to eat a little bit of crow now. But I certainly — taking the hospital out — wouldn’t expect a fourth year in a row,” Dixon said.

The construction sector saw strong and steady performance across all categories, according to Dixon. Residential construction accounted for 57 per cent of all building permits issued, with the bulk of that $165.4 million total coming in the form of multi-family projects.

City hall also issued permits for $39.6 million in commercial construction and $15.4 million in industrial builds.

Dixon says it’s hard to look into a crystal ball, but all indications point to a strong 2020 across the board, with the single hospital project looming over the entire industry.

“Obviously, we can’t set records year after year after year without let-up,” said Dixon. “So, even the hospital aside, I expect next year to be a strong year. With some of the applications that we’ve seen, some that we anticipate to get, I think it will still be a strong year.”

“[The RIH project] is really a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” he added. “It’s just not something that every community sees — sometimes, ever.”