Toronto tops RLB crane list again
Toronto is once again North America’s crane capital.
Construction consulting firm Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB) released its latest Crane Index report, for the first quarter of 2023 on April 9.
The latest edition of the group’s semi-annual survey finds that contractors in the Greater Toronto Area have 238 tower cranes in use. That figure is nearly five times the 51 cranes currently in use in Seattle, which sits at second place on RLB’s latest list.
Toronto’s crane count also makes up nearly half of the total cranes deployed across the 14 cities surveyed in the RLB report.
The report finds that Toronto’s overall crane count has increased by eight over the past six months. That’s despite the fact that 31 projects have been closed out over the same period. This most recent crane count includes 37 brand-new projects.
The most significant increase in cranes by project type is residential, with an increase of 13 cranes, while cranes on commercial projects dropped by six cranes.
Calgary is the only other Canadian city to be surveyed in the Crane Index. With 20 tower cranes in use, the city is reporting one fewer crane from six months ago.
“Even with skilled labour shortages, high material costs, and limited availability of supplies and equipment, the city continues to flourish, and considerable investments have been made in Calgary’s future,” the report says. “While the city expects a cooler, more balanced housing market this year, it is still investing in infrastructure to make these places development ready for more than 190,000 people. In addition, a $500 million expansion to the BMO Centre is also underway.”
This latest edition of the RLB survey reports an increase of 34 cranes from the third-quarter report the company issued in 2022. Eight cities (Denver, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle and Toronto) saw their crane counts increase. Two (Chicago and New York) saw decreases and four (Boston, Calgary, Portland, and Washington DC) held steady.
“Despite continued workforce challenges and economic uncertainties are still concerns for the coming year, we are continuing to see new projects break ground within our key markets,” the report says. “We anticipate the number of cranes to remain high into 2023. Despite uncertain market conditions, construction projects will continue to break ground, albeit at a cost.”
Residential and mixed-use projects made up 73% of the overall crane count while commercial projects accounted for 12%.