New street furniture to revitalise our city

The City of Sydney is replacing 330 bus shelters to offer more protection, increase accessibility and improve passenger comfort.

As well as the new shelters, we’re doubling the number of public toilets throughout the city, and installing new communication pylons and kiosks. We’re also installing more of our award-winning benches and litter bins designed by Sydney firm, Tzannes.

Construction work will be carried out in stages to minimise disruption.

The new bus shelters feature advertising screens that can display real-time event information, community updates and safety messaging.

The upgrade of street furniture follows last year’s signing of a 10-year deal with leading outdoor media company, QMS, with an option for a 5-year extension.

Jemma Enright, QMS general manager for the City of Sydney portfolio, said the company was excited to be working on the project to reinvigorate Australia’s premium and most sought-after street furniture network.

“It is great news for marketers, agencies and the people who live, work and visit the city and we look forward to working closely with the City of Sydney to create something truly world-class for Sydneysiders,” Enright said.

Designed by award-winning firm Grimshaw Architects, the new infrastructure will make the city more accessible for residents, visitors and businesses.

Grimshaw managing partner, Andrew Cortese, said the elegant designs are functional and accessible.

“Our aim was to create a distinctive and elegant ensemble of street furniture that gives service and amenity to Sydney’s streets, its parks and the public realm,” Cortese said.

“This design affirms Sydney’s standing as a progressive and citizen-oriented city with continued investment in public infrastructure. The design is digitally enhanced, resolved to place, heritage and the natural landscape, and has an enduring materiality and resilience. A design that is unique to Sydney.”

Features of the updated street furniture include:

Bus shelters

• We’re replacing more than 300 existing bus shelters with improved structures
• The improved modular design maximises footpath access and increases shelter from sun and rain
• Thermal glass roofs reduce sun exposure and heat in hot weather and improve overall comfort
• The bus shelters will feature full height advertising screens that will also be used for event information, community updates and safety messaging
• The bus shelters replacements were rolled out from November 2021 in the city suburbs and January 2022 in the city centre.

Kiosks

• The need for kiosks has significantly changed over the past 22 years since they were first installed, and land use within the city centre has evolved.
• We’ll reduce the number of kiosks from 55 to 18
• There are 2 new kiosk designs tailored to suit the street access and use for different areas around the city
• The kiosk update will reduce clutter on our streets, improve accessibility and enhance amenity for people walking
• Removing occupied kiosks and installing the upgraded kiosks is planned from February 2022 to allow current operators to trade over Christmas and the New Year period.

Accessible toilets

• The number of accessible public toilets will be doubled from 10 to 20
• The new toilets will be fully accessible and 10 of the new installations will have an extra ambulant toilet in areas of high demand
• 10 of our new accessible toilets will have green roofs. This will naturally cool the toilet unit interior and enhance the public domain with increased greenery
• The toilet units are designed to be able to connect to the city’s underground recycled water network in the future
• Installing the new accessible public toilets will start in mid-2023.

Communication pylons

• 150 new digital communications pylons will be installed across the city
• The new pylons will be used to display event information and important public messaging
• Interactive touch screens will make wayfinding easier
• The new ergonomic design will make it safer for people who are blind or have low vision to access our streets
• Installation of the new pylons began in February 2022.

Up to date information on the upgraded street furniture is available on the City of Sydney website.