Despite the pandemic, the amount of construction happening in the Thompson Nicola Regional District is keeping up with last year.

Chief building inspector Pat Luscombe says staff processed 94 building permits between January and April, compared to 91 in the same four-month period of 2019.

He talked about some of the bigger projects that are coming up.

“We’ve received an application for the Village of Clinton, where they’re going to be constructing some assisted-living housing there. I think there’s 20 units that are purported to be constructed. We’ve received the application for those, and I believe the value is around $4-5 million dollars, so it’s a substantial project for that area.”

Luscombe says Trans Mountain work camps will drive building permit values in rural areas as well.

He says an expansion to Kumsheen Secondary in Lytton and work on the Ashcroft Terminal will be big projects this year as well.

Meantime, residential construction is 28 per cent lower than last year, but Luscombe says that’s expected to start picking up.

“We’ve received numerous applications for Tobiano. We’ve got quite a few that we’re going through as we speak. I believe that residential constructions are going to outstrip the 2019 values for that particular area.”

Luscombe says new homes at Ironstone Ridge in Logan Lake will help drive up the regional district’s residential construction value as well this year.

The TNRD’s construction value includes its 10 electoral areas and seven smaller municipalities within the regional district.