It was a slower January for building permits in Kamloops with just over $8.6 million in construction permits issued last month.

However, the city’s Building and Engineering Development Manager Jason Dixon says it has been a good start to 2021.

“When I look at January 2021 versus January 2020, the only real difference in one permit that we issued in January 2020,” he said on NL Newsday. “That was an $11-million project for a 90 unit apartment up on Primrose Court. You know, if you take that out, the two months really compare pretty much evenly.”

“January can be pretty variable. It is earlier in the year. I mean we look at the weather now, its going to be pretty cold for the next couple of weeks which is pretty typical,” Dixon added. “I really think that we’ll start to see a lot more activity when we get to March, April, and May. Traditionally, that is when we see things pick up.”

Kamloops has seen four straight record years of construction with just under $1.2 billion in issued construction permits. Last year’s record came in at just over $395 million, with the massive RIH Patient Care Tower project making up almost 40 per cent of that total.

Dixon, meanwhile, is not expecting to see a fifth straight record construction year in Kamloops.

“I do think 2021 is going to be a solid year though and I look at how we started,” he said. “We also had 27 residential applications through the month of January so people are starting to get their applications in the door in anticipation of I’m sure spring construction.”

Residential permits accounted for $6.4 million of the January permits, almost 75 per cent of the total value.

Construction employs about 4,000 people in Kamloops each year, according to Dixon.