Downtown Halifax has many tower cranes due to residential construction growing at one of the fastest rates in Canada and tower cranes are being erected for building projects around the region. The larger projects are using tower cranes up to 60 meters and are able to lift thousands of kilograms of building materials and equipment.
Between 25 and 37 tower cranes operate in the region, according to the Halifax Regional Municipality.
“This is definitely unprecedented as far as I know for the Halifax region,” said Miguel Salgueiro, the president of Omega Formwork, which has six cranes erected at projects in Halifax. “We are very busy.”
The tower cranes signal a move from low-rise residential properties to growth upwards Lucic said, showing more people want to live in the heart of the city where many of the new high-rise projects are happening.
Every crane also brings significant boosts to the economy, he noted, pointing to the employment created at each site.
Halef said developers book the contractor for each project and they then move to hire the required skilled trades workers needed for each project.
“You would have upwards of 100 employees on a particular job site depending on its size working at any given point, so that type of employment and economic activity, it’s quite substantial,” Halef said, adding the jobs continue for the duration of each project, which could be up to 18 months.
