RLB CRANE INDEX®

Overall, Melbourne saw net crane increases in the civil sector (up 15), data centres (up five), civic (up four), mixed use (up three), commercial (up one), aged care (up one) and education (up one). This reflects the continued public works activity that has been fuelling the engineering sector for the past few years. Some of these projects include the Westgate Tunnel, North-East Link, Level Crossing Removals, and the Metro Tunnel project, all of which are all contributing to a record number of civil cranes. The current number of 47 civil cranes is above the previous sector high of 32 cranes in Q1 2024.

A decline in net crane numbers was seen in residential (down 27) and hotel (down one).

The residential sector currently accounts for 41% of all cranes in Melbourne, while the civil sector accounts for 24%.

The commercial sector saw cranes commence at:

• 435 Bourke Street (Melbourne)
• 41-53 Cremorne Street (Cremorne)
• 68-88 Green Street (Cremorne)
• 22 William Street (Melbourne)
• A16 Arrival Drive (Melbourne Airport)
• One Eight Nine (South Yarra)
• Windsor Place (Windsor)

Fifteen additional cranes commenced work on the North-East Link with ten new long-term crawler cranes at the Bulleen Road Interchange, and five additional cranes at the Greensborough Road Interchange. This brings the total number of cranes working on this important infrastructure project to 30. This is the largest number of cranes working on the one project in Australia.

In the health sector, cranes were placed on projects at:

• St Vincents Hospital (Fitzroy)
• The Royal Melbourne Hospital (Parkville)

Residential developments with more than one crane include:

• Caulfield Village (Caulfield North)
• 50-52 Queens Road (Melbourne)
• 139-149 Boundary Road (North Melbourne)

Over the past six months, 28 cranes were added to residential sites, while 55 cranes were removed.

Across the city’s six main regions, increases in crane numbers were only seen in the east and north, increasing by five and 26 respectively. No net change was recorded in the inner or Geelong regions. All other regions saw crane numbers decrease. There was an overall net gain of 16 cranes across Melbourne.

Increases in crane numbers were observed in four of the city’s six main regions: east, south, west and Geelong. The remaining two regions experienced a decrease in crane numbers. Overall, Melbourne saw a net gain of two cranes.

Inner Melbourne recorded a net fall of 18 cranes, to total 69 cranes, down from 87 in the previous edition. A total of 25 new cranes was added and 43 cranes were removed. The residential, commercial and civil sectors each have more than ten cranes.

The east saw five cranes removed, and 18 new cranes added. Total cranes across the east now total 33. This reflects an overall net gain of 13 cranes since the last edition of the index.

Geelong currently has five cranes on development projects. One crane was removed from the Bayside Hotel and Apartments, while four new cranes were erected at the Geelong Convention and Event Centre, and one at Motif.

The north experienced a slight net decrease of one crane, reducing the total number of cranes in the region to 42. In total, 12 cranes were added and 13 were removed.

One of the most significant projects in the north is the North-East Link in Greensborough, which saw ten cranes commence.

Melbourne’s southern region saw an increase of two cranes. Cranes in the south now number 29, up from 27 in the previous edition of the index.