Sydney Harbour Bridge Cranes

Officially opened in 1932, a distinctive feature of Sydney Harbour Bridge's profile has been the four painting and maintenance cranes. The bridge is painted every five years and has an annual maintenance budget of $20 million. The original cranes – designed in 1929 and decommissioned in 1997 – were in use for nearly seventy years.

ICS was commissioned by the then Roads & Traffic Authority (RTA, now the Roads and Maritime Services) to guide them through the decision-making process with regard to the future of the four cranes which were removed from the Bridge in 1997. The result of this process was that one crane would be retained by the RTA and placed on external public display, one crane would be donated to the National Museum of Australia, and the remaining two cranes would be deaccessioned and subsequently disposed of.