Buildings and population on the rise in Waterloo Region

Construction cranes are seen at the site of the Barrel Yards development in Waterloo, Ont., on Thursday, March 28, 2013. (David Imrie / CTV Kitchener)

Everywhere you turn in Waterloo Region, you see evidence of growth, with new buildings under construction in all corners of the area.

What’s driving the local construction boom is a similar boom in the population of Waterloo Region.

Seven thousand new residents moved to the area in 2012, putting the regional population just under 560,000, and regional planners expect 200,000 more people to call Waterloo Region home within 20 years.

Waterloo Region planning commissioner Rob Horne says a large part of the increase can be chalked up to a strong, diverse economy.

“You have strong businesses like Google and Desire2Learn who attract other business, but you also have the output of the universities and new skilled people. That attracts business as well,” he tells CTV.

It’s not just the business sector that attracts people to the area, says Dr. Johanna Thiessen, who moved to Waterloo Region seven years ago.

“I love the two universities, there’s a young population which, I find, brings good events to the cities, different cultural things,” she says.

But growth alone doesn’t explain the abundance of high-rise buildings under construction across Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge.

In the past, new populations flocking to the area were housed in suburbs that continually sprang up at the edge of each city, next to the previous generation of suburbs.

Horne says that’s no longer a feasible option – there just isn’t space for it.

“We’re really butting up against farmland,” he says.

“We’re trying to create that great place to live within that built-up area.”