There were 109 cranes visible over the centre of Dublin on January 1st from the seventh floor of The Irish Times building on Tara Street.

This is the highest score yet registered by Crane Count – five up on last month’s previous high of 104 and more than triple the 31 cranes recorded on February 1st, 2016, when the newspaper’s crane survey was first launched.

There was an increase of two cranes (to 41) counted north of the Liffey where work on some very large sites close to the new Central Bank building on North Wall Quay is starting to ramp up.

Big increase

The southside count, meanwhile, rose three to 68 with construction clearly moving out to the suburbs in all directions from the central business district. Ballsbridge looks set for a big increase in construction as much of the former AIB campus opposite the RDS is now being readied for building works in preparation for Facebook’s arrival.

The Irish Times will continue to conduct a crane survey once a month to track construction levels in the city centre.