There were 69 construction cranes visible over the centre of Dublin on July 1st from the seventh floor of the Irish Times building on Tara Street. This is a drop of one on June's total of 70 but 35 ahead (a 103 per cent increase) of the 34 cranes recorded on February 1st, 2016, when the newspaper's crane survey was launched.
Construction is still concentrated in various pockets south of the Liffey – Ballsbridge, the docklands and Molesworth Street – where there were 57 cranes (down one from a month ago). Twelve cranes were visible north of the Liffey, the same as in June.
It seems, however, that the construction surge is spreading further out from the city centre. Eleven cranes, not included in the survey total above, are visible over Dún Laoghaire.
A number of mainly residential schemes, like those at Callaghan’s Lane and Marine Walk close to the Royal Marine Hotel, are under construction, as is the refurbishment of an office scheme on George’s Street Upper.
The main concentration of cranes is at the large Cualanor scheme on the site of the former golf club, where Cosgraves is building about 900 homes. Nearby at Fitzgerald Park off Lower Mounttown Road in Monkstown Farm, a 50-unit social housing scheme is also under way.
With the Irish economy expected to continue its recovery and a number of significant developments due to enter the construction phase shortly, it is likely the number of cranes on Dublin’s skyline will increase.
We will continue to conduct a crane survey once a month to track construction levels in the city centre.
