It's official, the construction boom is not slowing down - but the two jobs of building ACE Ltd.'s and XL Capital's headquarters have simply skewed the statistics, according to a leading construction manager.

Dennis J. Fagundo, Joint Managing Director D& J Construction and board member of the Chamber of Commerce said that he did not think that the construction industry was slowing down - contradicting a statement in a Government report published a week earlier.

The Retail Sales Index for June, printed last week, reported a dip in the sale of building materials compared to a year earlier. "This reflected a general slowdown in building activity in the construction industry" said the report.

Mr. Fagundo's findings were backed up by fellow Chamber of Commerce head of the realtors department, Scott Powell, who said he had not seen any slowdown in the construction industry.

"We are between some projects, the BF&M/PXRe building is coming to a close, and the Belmont has not yet started," said Mr. Powell. "But I do not have the sense that there is a slow down. There appear to be a lot of projects in the pipe line."

Mr. Fagundo said the boom years were not over yet - and he hoped that the thirst for new buildings would continue for some time to come.

"Business is fairly consistent," said Mr. Fagundo. "We have seen the same trends that have been in place for the past six months. In 2000 and 2001 the two big jobs at ACE and XL could be considered a boom, and compared to that, last year was quieter and this year is about the same as last year."

He said that during this two year 2000/2001 period was also when a number of large projects such as the John Swan, Max Re and AS&K buildings were all going up at the same time.

At the moment there is no shortage of work for construction firms, with the Berkeley Institute, the PXRe building, the RenaissanceRe building (pictured), Atlantis House and a number of projects in the pipeline - plus work on the Belmont.

"There is a lot of residential work out there as well," said Mr. Fagundo, adding that if you considered the ACE and XL buildings as big jobs, there was not much else out there in that same league, but if you considered an average office building a big job, then there were plenty out there on the same sort of scale.

When asked if he thought there would be a slow down in the industry to come, he said: "I hope not." But added that the prosperity of the construction industry was not up to those that worked in it, but was impacted by outside sources.

The latest figures for 2001 show that the construction industry employed 2,794 people, one of the largest employers on the Island and the sector has shown steady growth over the years.

The figures from the department of statistics, from the final quarter of 2002, showed that the total value of construction projects in place during the third quarter of that year was $43.7 million - up 20 percent on the same period a year earlier.