4th-highest number of cranes in the sky in North America in Mississauga

Mississauga has the fourth-highest number of active construction cranes in the air among all cities in North America, according to City officials.

The 39 large cranes currently working on various building projects across the city, while a record for Mississauga, are still well off the pace set by Toronto, though.

According to the Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB) biannual Crane Index, which tracks the number of operating tower cranes in 14 major Canadian and American cities, Toronto leads the way by a wide margin in North America with 238 large cranes on job sites during the first three months of 2023.

Seattle is a distant second on the RLB list, with 51 operating tower cranes, while Los Angeles is third, with 47.

While Mississauga isn’t one of the 14 cities tracked by the RLB Crane Index, City of Mississauga officials lay claim to the No. 4 spot (39 cranes).

It’s not known how many cranes are in operation in other large North American cities that aren’t part of the RLB Crane Index.

Rounding out the RLB list of 14 cities:

• Denver 36
• Washington, D.C. 26
• Calgary 20
• San Francisco 17
• Portland, Oregon 14
• Honolulu 14
• Chicago 14
• Las Vegas 12
• New York 10
• Boston 9
• Phoenix 9

RLB says its index was the first of its kind and offers a simplified measure of the current state of the construction industry’s workload in each location.

❗Housing milestone❗

Mississauga has 39 construction cranes in the sky – that’s the 4th highest number of cranes in major North American cities & the 2nd highest in Canada – only Toronto, Seattle and LA have more!

We're getting housing built: https://t.co/Mt0QH5HNNw pic.twitter.com/tltjRc5i0G

— City of Mississauga (@citymississauga) April 20, 2023

Mississauga officials also recently reported that the City has issued 1,088 building permits for new construction so far this year, indicating to them that construction continues to be “at an all-time high.”

The 1,088 permits issued in the first quarter of 2023 total 2,171 residential units, Mississauga officials said in an April 13 news release.

The “strong start to the year” supports the City’s efforts to help the Ontario government tackle the housing crisis, and comes on the heels of a record-setting number of permits approved in 2022, City staff said.

The 6,400-plus building permits issued last year (worth a total construction value of nearly $2.5 billion) easily bested the previous mark of 5,500 approved in 2021.

Mayor Bonnie Crombie suggested the latest data shows the City’s housing plan is working.

“We’re doing everything we can to make it easier for the building industry to get shovels in the ground and cranes in the sky,” she said. “Mississauga is ready and willing to grow, and as we do, we’ll keep working with our development partners to ensure we deliver walkable, livable communities that meet the needs of those moving to Mississauga for the first time, and those who have been living here for many years.”

Andrew Whittemore, Mississauga’s commissioner of planning and building, said earlier that, “going forward, we expect even more activity as we continue to roll out our recently approved housing action plan, which will help the City meet new provincial housing targets.”

However, the new high number of permits for Mississauga might not be good enough when faced with expectations laid out in controversial Bill 23, the Ontario government’s More Homes Built Faster Act.

A report from Whittemore presented to councillors last November indicates Mississauga would have to double that figure in years to come to meet requirements under the new legislation.