Province outpaces rest of country for fourth consecutive quarter
Wency Leung
Sun
B.C. outpaced the rest of the country with the strongest gains in investment for institutional construction for the fourth straight quarter, as spending for all types of non-residential building construction in the province surged in the first three months of 2006, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday.
Investment in institutional projects in B.C. totalled an estimated $348.3 million, up 109.1 per cent from the same quarter last year, the government agency said. In particular, B.C. led the rest of Canada in terms of growth in investment in education buildings.
Construction activity has increased at University of B.C., Simon Fraser University and other educational institutions, while government spending at hospitals has also risen, said Keith Sashaw, president of the Vancouver Regional Construction Association.
“A lot of these projects are already underway,” Sashaw said, noting the province’s robust economy is fueling construction projects across the board.
“We see non-residential construction continue to grow well into 2007,” he added.
Total non-residential construction investment in B.C. reached nearly $1.2 billion, surging 47.1 per cent compared with the first three months of last year.
Within the province, Abbotsford saw the strongest growth, with non-residential construction investment rising 126.6 per cent to $43.5 million.
Vancouver non-residential investment was up 35.5 per cent at $656.9 million.
For B.C. as a whole, investment in commercial construction, which accounted for the largest segment of non-residential spending in the province, rose 27.6 per cent to $642.9 million.
Statistics Canada said office building construction was driven by a decline in vacancy rates.
“In addition, growth in trade appears to have had a favourable impact on the construction of warehouses, which posted a gain for the third straight quarter,” it said.
For industrial construction, investment dipped 9.9 per cent from the previous quarter, but was up 43.1 per cent compared with the first quarter last year at $166.4 million.
All that spending translates into stronger building activity, but further strains a short supply of skilled trade workers in the province.
“The labour shortage continues to be a problem in the industry,” Sashaw said.
He said construction employment has already grown considerably over the past 18 months, from 60,000 workers to 80,000 in the Greater Vancouver area. “There’s a lot of work out there,” he said.
© The Vancouver Sun 2006
