NEWS BRIEFS
“It’s never bad to see building per-
mits go up,” Mark Cooper said. “But
the question is: Will we, in the next
three to four months — that will be the
key time frame — see a pickup in oc-
cupancy … and will we see continued
growth in building permits?”
Statistics Canada indicates the
building permit spike results from
growth in both the residential and
commercial construction sectors,
which climbed 28 per cent and 22 per
cent respectively from the same pe-
riod last year.

Construction plans in the region ap-
pear to be centralized in the City of
Saskatoon, which in early May re-
ported a 54.8 per cent increase — to
$140.6 million from $90.9 million — in
the value of building permits issued in
the first quarter.

Cooper said one explanation could
be developers have been racing to get
their projects started on paper ahead
of a major change to the provincial
sales tax that the SCA and other organ-
izations have estimated will add three
to four per cent to project costs.

As well, there are a few large proj-
ects on the region’s comparatively
small economy, which can skew build-
ing permit figures over the short term,
ICR Commercial Real Estate managing
partner Barry Stuart said in a published
report. “Office and industrial is an ex-
ample — last year there was nothing
going on, hardly,” he said. “And it does-
n’t take a lot of increase in activity to
affect those numbers significantly.”
The region’s climate could also ex-
plain the sharp increase in building
permit values, Stuart said. “Typically,
people are not putting in foundations
in January, February March; they go
for permits to start construction in the
spring.” Kalron Construction in
Regina looses $1.5 million
in massive fire
A massive fire at the former GM
plant in Regina destroyed Kalron con-
struction’s equipment, with a loss es-
timated at $1.5 million.

“There were gravel trucks in there,”
38 – June 2017 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report
CONSTRUCTION ACROSS CANADA
general manager Tyler Dutka told the
Regina Leader-Post. “There were nine
Bobcats, there were attachments.

Hundreds and hundreds of items for
sure. The equipment can be replaced;
it’s the other stuff that’s going to be
tough to try to save.”
The “other stuff” includes dealing
with the fire’s aftermath and getting
employees back to work.

MANITOBA Local company wins
$44.7 million Winnipeg
underpass contract
Winnipeg based Maple Leaf Con-
struction has been awarded a $44.7
million contract to build the remainder
of the Waverley underpass.

The work includes construction of
the temporary traffic detour roadway,
the underpass bridge structure, signif-
icant road improvements in the area,
and land drainage work, including a
pump station.

“Waverley is an important route for
Winnipeggers and when completed,
this underpass will help ease conges-
tion, improve traffic flow, and enhance
safety for motorists, cyclists and
pedestrians,” Mayor Brian Bowman
said in a release.

The project has a total budget of ap-
proximately $155.1 million, with fund-
ing being provided by all three levels
of government. CN is also contributing
$9.5 million to the project.

The city said Maple Leaf Construc-
tion submitted the lowest total bid
price. ONTARIO
“There’s some guys at home right
now that we can’t put to work because
their trucks are in there, they’re
burned,” Dutka said. “We’ve got a tight
knit group and you just think of their
families and if we have to lay people
off. If not, right now we’re still working.

With the fleet we have now, we’re
skimpy.” Dutka recalls receiving a phone call
about the shop being on fire. He said
they were able to salvage two of their
trucks before everything was com-
pletely engulfed in flames.

“There were two trucks pulled out.

One, was our old 1980 Mack and one
was our Dodge… Our trucks were
pulled outside, and I pulled them off to
the side and watched it burn,” he said.

The cause of the fire is still un-
known. Ottawa, Thunder Bay to
get new jails, construction
expected to start within
two years
The Ontario government has an-
nounced it plans to build new jails in
Ottawa and Thunder Bay with con-
struction starting in about two years,
but its announcement in early May
lacked details about the cost, location,
and design for the projects.

The announcement said “funding
has been approved for the construc-
tion of a new 325-bed multi purpose
correctional centre to replace the ex-
isting Thunder Bay Jail and Thunder
Bay Correctional Centre, as well as a
new 725-bed multipurpose correc-
tional centre to replace the existing Ot-
tawa-Carleton Detention Centre. This
investment will help increase capacity
and reduce overcrowding at provincial
institutions.”