Fiona Anderson
Sun
British Columbia‘s construction industry remains hot as growth in non-residential construction and home renovations offset a softening in residential construction, according to a report by one of Canada‘s major banks released Thursday.
Construction of residential homes has levelled off in B.C., but in most other provinces there has been an actual slowdown, said Adrienne Warren, a senior economist with Scotiabank and the author of the report. More than offsetting any decrease in the residential sector is an increase in non-residential building and home renovations, Warren said.
In B.C. and especially Vancouver, the increase in non-residential construction has been fueled by the upcoming Olympics and increasing trade with China, Warren said.
“We’re seeing much stronger trade activity in the West Coast . . . [in] distribution centres and manufacturers than would be the case in Central Canada.”
The increase in the non-residential sector has been growing steadily, but the momentum has increased over the last two quarters, Warren said, a pattern she expects will continue for the next year or two.
The value of commercial building permits in B.C. is up 58 per cent this year, while the value of institutional permits — for schools, hospitals and government buildings — is up 143 per cent.
There has been very strong growth across all three components of the non-residential sector — institutional, commercial and industrial — said Keith Sashaw, president of the Vancouver Regional Construction Association.
But institutional development, with the building of teaching and research labs at UBC and the B.C. Cancer Centre, has been especially active.
“The economic climate in B.C. is such that it is attracting a lot of investment,” Sashaw said.
Everyone points to the Olympics, Sashaw said, but the 2010 Games are just a small part of the overall investment. What the Olympics did do was send a message to investors that Vancouver was back in business, Sashaw said. Changes such as provincial tax cuts, have also fostered a strong investment climate.
© The Vancouver Sun 2005