Urbis’ Telco and Heritage teams have been working with the Royal Botanic Gardens, ENE-HUB, Nokia and Optus and on a proposal to install 40 light poles which act as multi-function smart nodes across Sydney’s Botanic Gardens and Domain.

The smart nodes, winner of the 2017 Australian Good Design award, are built with safety and sustainability in mind. They feature electric vehicle charging points, Environmental Sensors, CCTV, safety buttons, LED lighting with Smart lighting controls, Wi-Fi and an Optus 4G antenna inside. The smart nodes look like a slimline lamppost.

The upgrade has significantly improved mobile phone reception and allowed the Gardens to reduce energy consumption from lighting by around 50%. Some existing light poles were also removed, de-cluttering the landscape

The project is part of wider plans to continue building Sydney as a modern, connected and global city.

Our heritage experts gained all the heritage approvals for the project, while our telecommunications specialists submitted planning applications and led a successful consultation to the community and key stakeholders around the planning applications allowing a successful launch of the smart nodes.