Kamloops city staff say there’s no sign the record pace of building in the Tournament Capital will slow down anytime soon.

The city has approved more than $178 million dollars worth of building permits in 2019 to the end of July, up from $158 million at the same time last year.

Building and engineering development manager Jason Dixon points out that is about 12 per cent more than this time last year.

“We do have some big projects or permits that we’re working on that will be issued over the next month or so. Like I said, there is just a lot of applications and it doesn’t show any sign of slowing down.”

Dixon says he can’t believe the city remains ahead of last years construction value which was a record. “It just continues to be really, really busy. And just with, applications in, I know we have tremendous number of applications in that we’re trying to work through. It just doesn’t show any signs of letting up.”

Dixon says that means the demand for workers is extremely high, but it has been a struggle to fill that demand.

“Anecdotally, I’ve talked to a few different builders/developers and they are struggling to find people. I mean, we ourselves are struggling to find some folks too. I think it’s a common theme, not just in Kamloops but around the province.”