(File photo; CFJC Today)
PANDEMIC CONSTRUCTION TREND

Pools, additions, renovations; City notes shifting construction trend during pandemic

Jul 5, 2020 | 1:40 PM

KAMLOOPS — Many industries have slowed with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but construction in the Kamloops region has continued with its near-record pace.

So far, the year-to-date count for permitted construction activity in the city is at $178.7 million – which means 2020 is shaping up to finish ahead of 2019’s record.

City of Kamloops Building and Engineering Development Manager, Jason Dixon, says the pandemic hasn’t outright slowed everything down, it seemingly moved the rate of activity to another construction sector.

“There’s been a shift. When you look into the stats a little deeper, and you look at single family dwellings, duplexes, multi-family, single units, those kind of things – definitely fewer units this year than we saw last year,” he explains, “But then when you look at the more compact housing types like apartments, those higher density multi-family units are way up.”

“When you look at year-to-date units, we’re at 492 so far this year versus 272 last year. So we’re creating a lot of dwelling units, it’s just more in that compact style.”

Dixon notes that the smaller scale permits have also increased, but that was something city staff were expecting, given all the gathering restrictions, and vacation plan cancellations.

“We’ve kind of anecdotally noted ‘Man, a lot of additions, alterations, pools – everybody wants a pool.'”, he says, “And now you’re seeing a couple months in when you look at the stats for additions, alterations, and pools, it’s not just anecdotal, there is a definite increase in those types of activity.”

Overall, Dixon says it has been interesting, and somewhat relieving to see people adapt, and continue with construction projects during the pandemic.

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