Over the past five years, more than seven million square feet of office space has been built in Calgary and another five million square feet of office space is under construction.
That’s according to the 36th annual Emerging Trends in Real Estate report, issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute.
While media outlets don’t hesitate to describe all this office construction as a boom, the chair of the Calgary Construction Association (CCA), said Fabrizio Carinelli, who is also president of CANA Construction, said those in the industry are always afraid to use the "b" word.
He said however, that the city’s current construction scene is definitely healthy, pointing to the number of building permits the city has issued this year as evidence.
"If you look at what we’re on pace for in 2014, we’re looking to exceed $6 billion in building permits," he said, adding the 2013 total was also in the $6 billion range.
"The only other time we came close to that was $5.5 billion, so it’s a good indicator that we have had a couple of record-breaking years," Carinelli explained.
"It drives the economy, all of this building. It makes it a good place to live and creates a number of opportunities for people coming into the industry."
However, he admits, all this construction does present a challenge to the industry.
It’s a challenge involving the availability of labour to fulfill industry needs.
"There is a strain on the labour force in Alberta," he said.
He added that estimates suggest there will be close to 100,000 new workers required in the construction industry across Alberta over the next decade.
"With the labour force we have right now, there is certainly concern with projects going forward if there is enough labour to fulfill the demand … Going forward, we’re going to have to look within our own Alberta borders and beyond," he said.
Moreover, he added, Calgary projects have to compete with all the activity in Fort McMurray for available workers.
"That draw is something we’re always competing with," he admitted.
Carinelli said the CCA has been actively promoting training and encouraging young people to enter the trades in order to bolster the ranks of the construction workforce.
Hand-in-hand with concerns about an big enough labour force is adequate safety and training.
Safety is a big priority.
"We’re having a lot of new people entering the workforce in a relatively short time. Making sure they have proper training and safety requirements is of the utmost importance," he said.
Carinelli said he isn’t necessarily concerned that a bust will follow the boom.
"There are always cycles in the construction industry; 2009 was our last one. It would be foolish to think it wouldn’t happen again, but we’ve rebounded every time," he said.
"Alberta has typically had a pretty strong economy when it comes to infrastructure and building … We’re fortunate to be in a province that has natural energy resources and those will drive a large part of the economy for a long time."
Four of the most prominent office towers under construction in downtown Calgary include the Brookfield Place East Tower; the 853,000–square foot Calgary City Centre, set to open in 2016; Eau Claire Tower; and the Manulife Tower, which will replace the 41-year-old, 88,000-square foot Manulife House with a structure more than six times its size.
EllisDon is the construction company behind three of these projects, but PCL Construction Management Inc. is building Calgary City Centre.
EllisDon also recently completed the West Tower of Eighth Avenue Place, which just opened in October, and adds another 810,000-square feet to Calgary’s downtown office landscape.
Shaped to mimic the Rocky Mountains, the West Tower complements the earlier and taller Eighth Avenue Place East Tower.
In addition to all the office construction in the city’s core, Carinelli says there are pockets of office construction all around the city.
Centron, for example, just completed construction on four, low-rise, suburban office towers – known as the Blackfoot Point Business Park – near Calgary’s Deerfoot Meadows shopping complex.
Centron also has a large office project, Place 10, under construction in downtown Calgary, along with another suburban office project, Fountain Court Business Park, in the City’s southeast.
Another project about to break ground is the new ATCO office headquarters, close to Calgary’s Mount Royal University.
Carinelli said the next major suburban office development – currently in the approval stages – is the Shepard Office Campus.
It will offer one million square feet of office space adjacent to Deerfoot Trail at 130th Avenue SE.
"It’s a really exciting time to be in construction," Carinelli said.
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