Capital cost of all major projects hits $51.1 billion
Bruce Constantineau
Sun
Construction plans throughout B.C. continue to soar as the value of current and proposed major projects shot up $6 billion during the second quarter to $130.2 billion, according to the B.C. government’s Major Projects Inventory released Wednesday.
The report said the number of existing and proposed projects worth at least $15 million — or $20 million in the Lower Mainland — has increased by seven per cent in the past year to 826.
The value of those projects has increased 28 per cent — or $28.8 billion — from a year ago. The capital cost of all major B.C. projects under construction rose to $51.1 billion from $48.7 billion in the first quarter this year.
Thirty-four new projects worth a total of $3 billion began construction in the second quarter, including the $1-billion Mount MacKenzie ski resort in Revelstoke and the $300-million Woodward’s redevelopment in Vancouver.
Twenty-two projects, worth a total of $1.6 billion, completed construction during the second quarter this year — including the $350-million Citygate residential project in Vancouver.
The Major Projects Inventory has grown for 16 consecutive quarters, and Vancouver Regional Construction Association president Keith Sashaw said the industry has coped well in responding to the demand for more activity.
A shortage of labour, especially skilled tradespeople, continues to be the industry’s biggest challenge, but employment in the Lower Mainland construction sector has grown to 114,000 from 65,000 in the past 31/2 years.
“New workers are coming from other sectors of the economy, from across Canada, and from across the world,” Sashaw said in an interview. “The industry has had to look at all possible ways of getting new workers and so far we’ve been able to keep pace.”
He said labour shortages have caused some construction schedules to fall behind slightly, but doesn’t expect a huge problem with delays in the near future.
Sashaw said construction is a cyclical industry but doesn’t expect the four-year B.C. building surge will slow down any time soon.
He noted activity is spread across many sectors — including residential, institutional, industrial, commercial, mining and infrastructure development.
“We know it’s not always going to stay like this, but our projections show it staying strong past 2010, and possibly into 2011 and 2012,” he said.
“The encouraging thing is that it’s robust all across the province. In previous cycles, it would be strong in the Lower Mainland, but everywhere else in the province would lag behind.”