Melbourne hits new peak of 222 cranes as record crane numbers across Australia remain unchanged
15 April 2019
According to the
Rider Levett Bucknall Q1 2019
RLB Crane Index®
Melbourne continues to surge with an increase of 30 net
cranes
during the past six months, to reach a new peak of 222. Across
Melbourne, 105 cranes were added to projects and 75 were removed. Since
the March 2018 edition, the
Victorian capital has undergone a
significant 40% increase in the number of cranes standing tall across
its’ CBD and suburbs.
Sydney residential sector shows gradual decline
Sydney meanwhile, with 310 cranes, has experienced an almost 10% drop in
cranes since the RLB Crane Index® March 2018 edition and a net decrease
of eleven cranes during the past six months, driven by the declining
residential sector.
Domenic Schiafone, RLB’s Oceania Director of Research and Development
said, ‘While Australia’s record 735 long-term cranes from our previous
edition remains unchanged, we are seeing strong resilience in many
markets and sectors across the country.’
Current economic conditions may hamper future developments
We have seen a record number of cranes used in the civil (29),
commercial (67) and education (17) sectors, whilst the residential
sector showed a small increase to 530 cranes across Australia
(representing 72% of all cranes erected).
‘But the future commencement of many developments could be affected by
the current economic conditions impacting the property industry, such as
tightening finance availability, falling foreign investment and general
market confidence,’ he continued.
Sydney still leads overall crane count
According to the RLB Crane Index®, Sydney continues to be the main
driver of the crane count. Of the 735 cranes sighted across Australia,
310 were in
Sydney, 222 were in Melbourne, 59 were in
Brisbane, 33 were in
Perth, 32 were on the Gold Coast, 28 were in
Canberra, 17 in
Adelaide, 10 in the Sunshine Coast, 6 were in Newcastle and 5 were
in
Hobart.
Victoria going strong
Solidifying the strength of the Victorian construction industry,
construction work done rose 15% by chain volume terms for CY 2018, with
increases recorded for all sectors. The residential and non-residential
building sectors increased 9.1% and 9.5% respectively.
Melbourne’s crane numbers surged past 200 for the first time, with an
additional 30 cranes observed for this edition. This increase was driven
by the addition of new cranes to existing large sites.
Melbourne’s largest building site, M-City in Clayton recently went from
two cranes to six. Malaysian Developer OSK Property’s $2.8 billion
Melbourne Square currently has four cranes onsite and Lend Lease’s
Melbourne Quarter has five.
NSW construction work continues to grow despite Sydney drop
In Sydney, crane numbers declined by eleven, lowering the crane count
from 321 to 310. 175 cranes were added and 186 removed. Despite the
small drop in cranes, NSW construction work done continued to grow, up
9.0% in chain volume terms for CY 2018. Engineering work rose 12%, while
residential and non-residential work increased 6.3% and 8.9%
respectively.
Twelve new civil cranes were erected in St Peters for WestConnex and two
in North Sydney for the Sydney Metro project, with ten removed from
projects in Ashfield, Balmoral, Bella Vista, Hornsby, Kingsgrove, North
Sydney and Pendle Hill.
Gold Coast cranes rising as Brisbane sees biggest decline
Brisbane suffered the biggest decline with a decrease of 13 cranes,
resulting in 59 cranes standing opposed to 72 six months ago. Inner
Brisbane accounted for the eight dismantled cranes, driven by the mixed
use sector. Cranes were removed from Howard Smith Wharves, 949 Ann
Street, Queens Wharf and South City Square.
The Gold Coast RLB Crane Index® continued its upward trajectory,
recording a 33% increase to 213. The residential sector accounts for 94%
of all Gold Coast cranes, falling slightly from the previous edition.
The sector saw 17 cranes placed on sites and 10 removed, bringing the
sector count to 30 in total.
For further details in each Australian city, please refer to the Q1 2019
RLB Crane Index,
https://s28259.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/RLB-AUS-Crane-Index_Q1_2019.pdf.
--ENDS--
Source: Rider Levett & Bucknall - www.rlb.com
Contact: N/A
External Links: https://s28259.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/RLB-AUS-Crane-Index_Q1_2019.pdf
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