Brisbane construction on the rise

Brisbane now has 33 per cent more cranes on its skylines than it did late last year, highlighting the strengths of the city’s construction industry.

Premier Campbell Newman said the booming construction sector was great news for the Queensland economy, families looking to get into the property market and for the hundreds-of-thousands of people employed in the sector.

“We’ve worked hard to get the construction industry going again and these latest figures show Queenslanders are benefiting from our strong plan,” Mr Newman said.

“The cranes are again dominating the city skyline. In Brisbane alone there are currently 48 cranes on sites around the city which is a fantastic indicator of the confidence in the industry and the number of jobs being created.

“Around 223,000 Queenslanders are employed in the construction industry, many more than two years ago and if these trends continue, we’re confident that we’ll see many more jobs created.

“The Queensland Government has implemented a raft of measures in the past two years to get the construction sector moving. We’re reforming planning and development approval systems, providing incentives like the $15,000 Great Start Grant, and it’s really starting to show.”

The Rider Levett Bucknall crane index showed 48 cranes on construction sites around the city, with the Fortitude Valley, Teneriffe and Newstead skyline filled with more than a dozen cranes within four square kilometres.

Master Builders’ Executive Director Grant Galvin said there was a new level of confidence in the sector.

“The industry’s confidence is reflected in total building approvals which had also risen around 25 per cent over the past 12 months to June,” Mr Galvin said.

“It’s interesting to note that 42.5 per cent of approvals in the last 12 months are for multi-unit dwellings, mainly in Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

“We’re on target to exceed the 40,000 dwelling commencements forecast for 2014–15 with total building approvals for the 2013–14 financial year well above 37,000.”

[ENDS] 14 August 2014

Premier’s Office - 07 3719 7000