Commercial and institutional construction was higher than usual last year, which helped push the total value of City permits issued in 2011 up to $162.5 million.

City development and engineering services director David Trawin said Thursday that’s still down from 2010’s $191.5 million total, but it’s better than what was initially predicted at the beginning of the year — especially given the uncertain economy.

About $57 million of the 2011 total was commercial, industrial or institutional projects. That’s about one-third of the year-end tally.

Trawin said normally, those types of construction make up 20 to 25 per cent of the total.

That construction wasn’t from any particular major projects, but instead a lot of smaller ones.

That’s a good sign, given it indicates businesses and organizations are growing and expanding, he said.

Where construction lagged in 2011 was in single-family housing. Housing overall amounted to $96 million last year, compared with $132 million in 2010.

But given the global uncertain economy, Trawin said Kamloops still fared quite well.

“It was still not a bad year, compared to what other municipalities have seen fall off,” he said.

In fact, construction values in Kamloops have surpassed the $150-million mark for the past seven years. Before that, they’d never gone that high, he said.

And in 2005, 2006 and 2008, values were higher than $200 million, Trawin said.

Looking ahead, he predicted 2012 will see construction values in the $130-million to $150-million range, if the past years are any indication.

He also expected commercial/industrial will decline slightly, while residential will stay similar to this year’s.

Projects that are on tap include the Sandman Signature Hotel on Lorne Street, which is due for a $10-million building permit; the old Home Hardware site on Pacific Way is supposed to become a hotel; a residential care facility on Tranquille Road; and possibly a Telus datacentre.

“We know there are three or four other projects potentially looking at coming on board. If that happens, we could hit $160 million or more,” said Trawin.

Demand for houses could be fuelled by a couple of factors in 2012: New Gold is opening up, creating high-paying jobs in the process, and Highland Valley Copper is expecting a lot of new hirings due to an aging workforce reaching retirement.

Trawin said the City’s plans call for 40 to 50 per cent of future growth to occur in the Aberdeen area.