Darwin reports zero cranes in skies

Darwin is one of only two capital cities in Australia which reported no construction cranes in the last six months, according to a new report.

THE number of cranes in Darwin’s skyline has crashed to zero in the latest count by economists.

Rider Levett Bucknall published their twice-yearly count over the weekend, showing that the completion of the CBD’s Manunda Place development left the Top End with no active cranes.

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It’s a decline from the single crane counted in March this year.

Hobart is the only other major Australian city with no cranes.

A disused crane currently sits at the site of the 92-apartment Sunbuild site along Dick Ward Drive in Nightcliff, which wasn’t included.

The number of cranes in Darwin’s skyline has crashed to zero. Picture: File.

Master Builders NT chief executive David Malone said that the collapse of tourism with the coronavirus crisis and a glut of apartments would mean few major construction projects across Darwin in coming years.

“That CBD space, those significant high-rise buildings, that is going to be really slow for a long period of time,” Mr Malone said.

“The construction market has been slowing for about three or four years,” he said.

But Mr Malone was more upbeat about infrastructure construction, saying the slowdown in projects across the NT had been arrested by coronavirus stimulus.

“There’s not enormous amounts of work around, but there’s a bit of work around and it’s spread out” he said.

The NT News is given an exclusive walk-through of Manunda Place, what is soon to be the new HQ for NT Health bureaucrats. Photograph: Che Chorley

“No one is going out and buying themselves a new Rolls Royce, but at the same time there’s a bit of work around.”

“There’s a little confidence in the market.”

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RLB’s report noted a 27.5 per cent fall in building approvals, despite a whopping 542 per cent increase in apartment approvals.

Nationally, Sydney had the most cranes with a whopping 297.