Ontario Construction News staff writer
The City of London is reporting a record construction year, with 2021 statistics predicting the city will surpass last year’s $1.6-billion building record.
As of April 30, London had issued 1,524 construction permits – a 60 per cent increase over 2020, a city council committee heard this week Monday.
So far in 2021 the value of permits is $593 million, more than three times the value recorded during the first four months of 2020.
Residential projects, including single-family homes, are leading the way in new construction this year with 1,024 single-detached housing starts in May.
This year is on track to be the sixth year in a row where the total value of all building activity exceeds $1 billion in London.
Large industrial construction projects including Maple Leaf Foods’ new poultry-processing plant are included in the total, along with greater demand for housing during the pandemic.
Maple Leaf Foods is constructing a state-of-the-art 640,000 square-foot fresh poultry-processing facility in London.
It was originally expected to open in 2021, but poor weather and COVID-19 changed the timelines and construction, with more than 400 workers on site, is now expected to last into 2022.
