There were 104 cranes visible over the centre of Dublin on December 1st from the seventh floor of The Irish Times building on Tara Street.

This is the highest score yet registered by Crane Count – two up on last month’s previous high of 102 and nine more than the then-record 93 on September 1st. December’s count is more than triple the 31 cranes recorded on February 1st, 2016, when the newspaper’s crane survey was first launched.

There was a decline of six cranes (to 39) counted north of the Liffey even as preparatory work on some very large developments, particularly in the north docklands, is gathering pace.

The southside count, meanwhile, rose eight to 65 with the construction surge clearly spreading out to the suburbs. Interestingly, however, site clearance work has just started at an infill site on Mark Street off Pearse Street close to the recently cleared Ned’s Pub site bounded by Moss Street, Gloucester Street South and Townsend Street in the south docklands.

Nearby, another small infill site backing onto the Dart line went on sale in April at more than €3 million for 0.229 acres on the corner of Townsend Street and Shaw Street.

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