After setting a record for building permits in 2010, Estevan is off to a fantastic start in 2011.
The City announced at the Feb. 7 regular meeting of council that it had issued over $2.1 million worth of permits in January. That is well ahead of 2010 when the total for the first month of the year was just $962,000.
Overall, six permits were issued last month. The largest was for an industrial project which had a total value of $1.6 million. One permit was also issued for a multi-family residence while another was for a new commercial building.
The City is coming off a big 2010 where over $50 million of permits were issued for the year which easily set a new record.
That figure helped the province record the second-highest total for building permits ever according to a Statistics Canada report released Feb. 7.
Building permits in 2010 totalled $2.1 billion, just shy of the $2.2 billion recorded in 2008. Residential permits were up 42.2 per cent on average between 2009 and 2010, the second highest percentage increase among the provinces.
"Building permits for 2010 were the second-best on record, surpassed only by 2008 when our economy had the highest overall economic growth in Canada," Enterprise Minister Jeremy Harrison said. "We hit record population numbers last year, and new residents contributed to strong residential construction right across the province. Our province continues to move forward."
Out of all Saskatchewan cities, Melville had the highest percentage increase in overall building permits in 2010 when compared with 2009, followed by Prince Albert and Melfort.
In residential building permits, Humboldt recorded the highest increase with Estevan placing second and Saskatoon third.
"Looking back on 2010, we had a great year in the province," Harrison said. "In 2011, we are confident many areas of the economy will again be hitting record or near record statistics as Saskatchewan continues to be viewed as a premiere place to live and do business."
