There were a record 93 cranes visible over the centre of Dublin on September 1st from the seventh floor of The Irish Times building on Tara Street.

This is up 14 (or 18 per cent) on July’s total of 79 and 13 (16 per cent) more than the 80 recorded on December 1st, 2017 – the previous highest score registered by the Irish Times Crane Count.

September’s total is triple the 31 recorded on February 1st, 2016, when the newspaper’s crane survey was launched.

There were 51 cranes visible on the southside – a drop of three on July – as many significant developments near completion and, in areas like the south docks, there isn’t a huge amount of sites left to redevelop.

Major schemes

But north of the Liffey, there were 42 cranes visible – a rise of 17 (or 68 per cent) on the 25 recorded in July. This is a trend likely to intensify in the coming months as a number of major schemes in areas like the north docks and near the DIT Grangegorman campus ramp up construction.

The north docks, in particular, is likely to experience intensive redevelopment given its ready supply of large sites which allow for the economies of scale favoured by the construction industry.

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