After three straight record years of building permit values, a strong start to 2020 in the city of Kamloops.

Building and Engineering Development Manager Jason Dixon says $19.5 million in permits were issued last month, more than double the $9.4 million issued in January 2019.

“We had one big project in particular, one apartment project worth $11 million. That’s an addition to the Chartwells Seniors Housing up in Primrose in Dufferin to add 90 units to that property,” said Dixon.

“When I take that one apartment project out, by and large the stats compare pretty evenly with what we saw last year. If you take that $11 million out, we’d have been $8.5 million versus $9.4 million last year.”

Dixon is confident that 2020 will see a lot of construction value in Kamloops, and that’s largely in part due to ongoing work at the RIH Patient Care tower and the expansion at Valleyview Secondary School.

“The Patient Care Tower, as I’ve said before, is a once in a lifetime type project. And then with the applications we’ll see this year, I’m sure that will skew the construction values a bit when we get to the end of the year.”

The city first set a building permit value record in 2017 at $224 million. That was beaten in 2018 at $285 million and further beaten in 2019 at $288.2 million.