There were 70 construction cranes visible over the centre of Dublin on June 1st from the seventh floor of The Irish Times building on Tara Street. This is an increase of four – or 6 per cent – on May's total of 66 and 36 ahead (or 106 per cent) of the 34 cranes recorded on February 1st, 2016, when the newspaper's crane survey was launched.
Building work is still concentrated south of the Liffey, where there were 58 cranes – a rise of two (or 4 per cent) on the April total. Twelve cranes were visible north of the Liffey, up two (or 20 per cent) on a month ago.
Site clearance work has just been completed on the 2.3-acre former An Post depot site across the road from Facebook in the south docklands. It is located in the docklands special development zone and has planning permission for two six-storey mixed-use blocks with a set-back level.
The two blocks will provide about 18,581sq m (200,000sq ft) of office space and 100 apartments.
Activity has also stepped up at two large schemes in Ballsbridge, which will eventually see 490 apartments and a 152-bed hotel replace the former Berkeley Court and Jury's hotels, and the former veterinary college site replaced with 88 apartments and office space.
Construction work is also spreading into other fringe city centre locations, such as Hogan Place not far from Pearse Station, where a four-storey block is being replaced by a six-storey office and retail building of 5,657sq m (60,890sq ft).
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.
The Irish Times will continue to conduct a crane survey once a month to track construction levels in the city centre.
