Research Greens $5bn Sydney Science Park

Sydney Science Park developer Celestino will tap into Macquarie University research to deliver a smart green city of the future at Luddenham under a new partnership.

The collaboration will bed in innovations in water management, urban greening and heat abatement as part of its sustainable development program at the precinct north of Western Sydney’s Aerotropolis, as well as incorporating smart technology and smart construction.

Celestino general manager of business development Duncan Challen said the partnership with the university would be transformative in building the $5-billion city of the future. 

“An integral part of supporting the delivery of the vision for a truly world-class sustainable and liveable smart city will be through the establishment of strategic collaborative partnerships between researchers, educators, innovators and high-tech industries,” Challen said. 

“Collaborations with the university sector, such as with Macquarie University, will play a critical role in shaping the collective thinking on how to build large scale smart city greenfield developments that are sustainable, centred on delivering flourishing communities and importantly creating the jobs of the future.”

It is the latest in a string of partnerships across the academic and scientific communities that will feed into the design and longevity of the Sydney Science Park development. 

The Macquarie University partnership will draw on its Smart Green Cities collaborative research hub to help facilitate a liveable smart green city.

Director of Smart Green Cities Professor Michelle Leishman said it would be a good opportunity to lend the research hub’s expertise for the innovative precinct. 

“We will provide ongoing advice and counsel on sustainable solutions for the development, from plant species selection through our successful Which Plant Where Project to heat abatement strategies and clever construction practices for the betterment of people and the planet,” Leishman said. 

“We will work closely with Celestino to ensure the precinct’s urban spaces are built to complement and cope with the dynamic climates in Sydney’s West as well as further our research capabilities and scope into greener and smarter living.”

Last year Celestino announced a commercial feasibility study on establishing a hydrogen hub at the mixed-use Sydney Science Park. the University of Technology Sydney investigation flagged the 287ha greenfield site as a potential location for a future Western Sydney Hydrogen Hub. 

Sydney Science Park is planned to be a world-class facility clustering together industry, education and business in an innovation-based community.
 
Pegged as Australia’s “first smart city”, the greenfield development is expected to become home to more than 100,000 people.