Tonsley is Australia's first innovation district bringing together leading-edge institutions and companies to connect with start-ups, business incubators and accelerators with a focus on innovation, sustainability and job creation.

In order to achieve this, Tonsley needed to incorporate the right mix of uses, and to facilitate connections between people, businesses and educational institutions. Oxigen, as lead consultant for the Tonsley Public Realm, was responsible for all direct and associated elements throughout the masterplan phase and led preparation of planning protocols and urban design guidelines, as well as the design, documentation and construction superintendence of all public realm elements. Through this approach, a curation role that includes public realm design in its broadest sense - WSUD, movement, wayfinding and signage, lighting, furniture design, and public art - the influence of a coordinated sustainable public realm is now in motion.

Retaining the Manufacturing Assembly Building (MAB), has not only provided an activated hub at the heart of the community, but has ensured Tonsley is a world-leader in emissions reduction. Approximately 90,000 tonnes of embodied carbon emissions have been saved - this is the equivalent of removing 25,000 cars from the road for a year.

Inside the MAB, the internal forests provide beautiful natural spaces for the community to enjoy, and at the same time capture carbon and purify the air. Misting trunks not only animate the central forest as a distinct place, but also contribute to climate control within the MAB.

The public realm has also been designed and built using water sensitive urban design (WSUD) principles both site wide and part of the broader water system and nearby Oaklands Wetlands.

Tonsley is the first project of its kind in Australia to be awarded a 6-Star Green Star Communities Certification, recognising the project's commitment to sustainable outcomes in a mixed-use.

KEY INITIATIVES

  • Adaptive re-use of structures
  • Re-use of found and salvaged elements
  • Low energy public lighting
  • Selection of durable materials based on whole-of-life costing
  • Water Sensitive Urban Design
  • Social, environmental and economic sustainability objectives are embedded
  • Is of broader benefit through innovation, including negotiation (by Oxigen) with South Australia Power Network (SAPN) to accept for the first time LED street lighting under a standard tariff arrangement
  • Retains and expresses the physical, social and cultural heritage of the Tonsley site, being an exemplar for brownfields development in an Australian city

PRODUCTS

BENCH SEATING
SITE WON TREES USED AS PART OF THE PUBLIC ART PROGRAM, CREATED IN COLLABORATION WITH LOCAL ARTIST GRAY HAWKE

LED STREET LIGHTING
NXT ROADWAY LIGHTING, IN COORDINATION WITH SA POWER NETWORKS 

LED FEATURE AND PLAZA LIGHTING 
WE-EF FEATURE AND UPLIGHTS
IGUZZINI FLOODLIGHTS
PLATEK POLE LIGHTS
ARCHILUX LED STRIP
KLIK SYSTEMS LEDPOD LED RECESSED HANDRAIL LIGHTING
LED MAB LIGHTING AND SENSOR LIGHTING CONTROLS
LIGMAN HAWKO 'STICK LIGHTS' (CUSTOM DEVELOPED FOR TONSLEY MAB),
SYLVANIA 'UMBRA' AREA LIGHTS

PLANTING AND SOILS
NUMEROUS LOCAL NURSERIES

RECYCLED MULCH
ADELAIDE CITY COUNCIL RECYCLING CENTRE

LOCAL STONES FROM LOCAL QUARRIES
CAREY GULLY AND STONYFELL

LOCALLY MADE AND SUPPLIED PRECAST CONCRETE UNIT PAVING
BEST BRICKS AND PAVERS (SOUTH AUSTRALIA)

GLASS REINFORCED CONCRETE PLANTERS
TOPPCO

RECYCLED STRUCTURAL GIRTS
SOURCED FROM THE SITE FOR SIGNAGE TOTEMS

TIMBER
SPOTTED GUM (WITH SUSTAINABLE TIMBER CERTIFICATION)

EXPOSED AGGREGATE CONCRETE
PREMIX, HANSON