Heavy spending on office buildings in Alberta and Ontario pushed investment in non-residential building construction to another record high between April and June, Statistics Canada reported today.

Second-quarter investment hit $9.9 billion, up 5% from the first quarter, extending an upward trend that has lasted since the second quarter of 2003.

In constant dollars, investment in non-residential building construction rose 2.1% from the first quarter, StatsCan said.

Nationally, all three components registered second-quarter gains with investment in the commercial component leading the way with a 6.3% increase to $5.9 billion.

Investment in the institutional component rose 2.4% to $2.6 billion and investment in the industrial component increased 4.3% to $1.5 billion.

Provincially, by far the biggest second-quarter dollar increase occurred in Alberta, where investment rose 11.1% to $2.3 billion, the province’s 16th straight quarterly gain.

Ontario was a distant second, with investment increasing 4.1% to $3.6 billion.