Toronto keeps crane crown
Toronto is once again the crane capital of North America.
In its first quarterly report of 2021 on the number of tower cranes in service across 14 major North American cities, consultants Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB) show 71 more cranes in use in the first quarter of this year than in the fourth quarter of 2020. The lion’s share of those were located in Toronto.
Of the 14 cities surveyed in the report, seven experienced an increase in the number of cranes in use, four held steady and three saw decreases of between 44 percent and 54 percent.
Toronto continues to be home to a significant portion of total cranes counted (43 percent). It outpaces Los Angeles (9 percent), Seattle (9 percent) and Washington D.C. (9 percent) by a wide margin.
The number of cranes in use in the GTA rose by 84, or 68 percent, since the last RLB report. A majority of the cranes in use in the city were on condominium projects, but the report also shows a significant jump in commercial and mixed-use developments—projects had been slated for the past few years and were not impacted by the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Looking ahead, the report suggests that Toronto’s crane count could be headed for a dip in the near future. With fewer people moving into the GTA, demand for new housing is expected to slacken. That could mean a drop in condominium starts.
“Another possible consequence of COVID is a shift toward permanent remote working, which may lessen the demand for commercial office space,” the report says.
Calgary is the only other Canadian city listed in the RLB report. It recorded a slight uptick in the number of cranes from the fourth quarter of 2020.
“With the residential market beginning to rebound, the city has five new cranes at high-rise multi-family buildings. A total of four cranes are now operating at the Bow River Bridge as one has been added,” says the report.
Other cities reporting increases in tower crane use were Boston, Denver, Honolulu, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. Meanwhile, Las Vegas, Phoenix and San Francisco saw the number of cranes in use decline.
Overall, the report found residential projects made up 49 percent of the North American crane count, mixed-use projects made up 20 percent and commercial projects 12 percent.