April 18, 2008

Business

Kingston’s construction industry looks forward to another busy year

FRANK ARMSTRONG

correspondent

The construction sector in Kingston can expect another busy year in 2008 with major projects planned by the military, local hospitals, the city and the private sector, industry representatives heard this week.

“Kingston is definitely on the right track,” Art Taugher, president of the Kingston Construction Association, said after a construction forecast breakfast in the eastern Ontario city.

At that breakfast, guests heard from city, military, hospital and private-sector representatives that they plan to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on construction projects over the next year.

One of the biggest announcements was that Upper Canada Ethanol, which has been preparing to build one of Canada’s largest ethanol plants in Loyalist Township, hopes to break ground in late May or early June.

The start date is a little later than expected because of unforseen delays in permit acquisitions, said Upper Canada Ethanol president Mark Hamelin.

“Our plan is to complete the project in about 20 months,” Hamelin said.

Local trades organizations are keen to capture some of the work on the site of the $200-million project and Hamelin said he hopes to hire local workers to do tank, pipe and electrical work.

“If we can get local trades, that’s going to speed up construction,” he said.

Another $63 million in municipal infrastructure upgrades are planned for this year, said Jim Keech, president and CEO of Utilities Kingston.

Kingston city council has taken the unusual step of approving three consecutive years of capital budgets. In total, the municipality plans to spend $252 million on upgrading roads, gas, water, sewer and electric services, Keech said.

“It’s never happened in Kingston,” he said, referring to the three-year approval of the capital projects budgets.

Meanwhile, Capt. Mike Avery, acting construction engineering officer for Canadian Forces Base Kingston, said the military base plans to spend at least $200 million on new construction over the next five years.

Foundation work has already begun on a $14-million barracks.

The city’s three hospitals also have big plans.

More than $100 million in renovations are scheduled for the Cancer Centre of Southeastern Ontario and Kingston General Hospital next door.

Kingston General plans to add new inpatient units for acute mental health, pediatrics and medical-surgical patients. It also plans to build a new in-central renal dialysis unit and expand its intensive care unit, among other projects.

Hotel Dieu Hospital is planning to add another 36,000 square feet of clinic space, while Providence Care is waiting for approval from the province to combine two hospital sites into one on Kingston’s waterfront. That project isn’t anticipated to begin this year.

Hope for a strong construction year in Kingston was welcome news for the city’s construction community after the municipality released data that showed non-residential construction permits for the first quarter of 2008 were almost half that of the first quarter of 2007.

Non-residential building permits dipped from $43.6 million in the first quarter of 2007 to $24.3 million in the same period in 2008.

Construction sector proponents suggested that 2007 was a tough act to follow since it was the city’s hottest construction year in recent history.

Just over $101 million in permits in 2007 came from the residential sector, while about $37 million came from institutional work. About $6.6 million came from industrial construction and almost $14 million in miscellaneous permits were approved that year.

Print | Email | Comment