Our Story

Our Story

Bringing lasting enjoyment to public spaces

Street Furniture Australia designs and manufactures high quality, durable furniture for the public realm. We uniquely run both an R&D program and factory under one roof in Western Sydney, Australia.

Our mission is to bring enjoyment to all those who create, build, maintain and use public places. We are committed to:

  • Creating spaces that make smiles.
  • Thoughtful design that treads lightly on the planet.
  • Ensuring public spaces are accessible for everyone.
  • Partnerships that help our clients create a sense of place.
  • Long-term thinking, so our business and the spaces we help to create endure.

Since 1986 our furniture has featured in over 30,000 projects in Australia and around the globe.

Recent international projects include the new Google Campus in Washington, Houston Botanic Garden and Long Island Rail Road in New York. All our products are made-to-order, finished, quality-controlled and dispatched from the factory floor to ISO standards.

In 2024 achieved carbon neutral certification for our organisation and all our products through

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which our factory is situated, the Darug People of the Darug Nation, and acknowledge their ancestors who have been Traditional Owners of their country for thousands of years. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

 

 

 

Clients and Partners

We Partner with: 

Partners

Clients include: 

Transport for NSW, Sydney Olympic Park Authority, TCCS ACT, Queensland Rail, Long Island Railroad (Metropolitan Transportation Authority MTA NY), Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority (VIDA), Cumberland City Council, Hassell, Architectus, ASPECT Studios, REALMStudios, Arcadia Landscape Architecture, OCULUS, Tract, GroupGSA, Urbis, TCL

 

Design and Research

We continually improve the quality and environmental performance of our products through research projects and testing new materials, processes and business models. We encourage our suppliers and contractors to uphold similar quality and environmental standards.

Our calendar of events throughout the year provide regular touch-points with our industry, including our 14 year partnership with AILA for the AILA Festival and our annual Western Sydney Symposium, co-hosted with AILA and Cumberland City Council.

 

Manufacturing

Manufacturing

All products are made-to-order and dispatched from our factory in Western Sydney, Australia. Our factory gives preference to local suppliers, uses energy efficiently and practises LEAN manufacturing methodologies to minimise waste. The operation is ISO-certified in quality, environment, health and safety.

 

Your right to repair

Our products are designed to allow for easy replacement of damaged parts. We provide our customers with the assurance that spare parts will be readily available well into the future.

 

Awards

Awards

Accolades for furniture design and smart city research projects.

Street Furniture Australia is an award-winning company, featured in the press for our activation projects in collaboration with government, universities and landscape architects.

Good Design Award
Gold Winner 2022

ChillOUT Tree received the highest honour for design and innovation in the country, at prestigious Gold level. The award is shared by Street Furniture Australia with ChillOUT Hub collaborators Georges River Council, UNSW and the University of Sydney.

Planning Institute of Australia Awards for Planning Excellence 2021, NSW

UNSW, Georges River Council, the University of Sydney and Street Furniture Australia together received a National Award for Best Planning Ideas – Small Project for the ChillOUT HubsSmart Social Spaces Creating Connected Green Places project.

Planning Institute of Australia Awards for Planning Excellence 2020, NSW

UNSW, Georges River Council, the University of Sydney and Street Furniture Australia were awarded an Award of Excellence in the Best Planning Ideas (Small Projects) category for the ChillOUT HubsSmart Social Spaces Creating Connected Green Places project in the NSW state awards.

Highly Commended, Cross Sectoral Collaboration,
2019 Smart City Awards

The smart cities partnership between Georges River Council, the UNSW Built Environment Team and Street Furniture Australia was highly commended by the Committee for Sydney.

Good Design Award 2019
Winner, Furniture and Lighting Category

The Aria Smart Bench received a prestigious Good Design Award Winner Accolade for outstanding design and innovation.

2018 Smart Cities Award – Built Environment

Street Furniture Australia’s #BackyardExperiment white paper was named winner of the Built Environment category at the inaugural Australian Smart Cities Awards in October 2018.

2017 NSW and ACT Parks and Leisure Award – Research Project

#BackyardExperiment won the Research Project Award at Parks and Leisure Australia’s 2017 NSW and ACT Regional Awards of Excellence.

Community Contribution Landscape Architecture Award – Australian Institute of Landscape Architects ACT Awards 2018

The #BackyardExperiment Garema Place Pop-Up Park, designed by Context Landscape Architects, received the state Landscape Architecture Award.

Media

“Streetwise and sustainable” – review by Architecture & Design

 

9 February, 2020

 

World Bank Report: The Hidden Wealth of Cities – Creating, Financing, and Managing Public Spaces

 

World Bank Group, by Jon Kher Kaw, Hyunji Lee and Sameh Wahba, 2020

Street Furniture Australia is proud to have been mentioned in the report as an example of innovation in measuring the public realm with our Smart Social Spaces and ChillOUT research in collaboration with Georges River Council and the University of New South Wales and University of Sydney (p102).

‘There Are Park Benches. And Then There are Smart Park Benches.’

 

Mike Cherney, The Wall Street Journal, 26 June 2018

‘Georges River Gets Modern Touch With Smart City Innovations’

Jennifer O’Brien, CIO, 19 February 2019

‘This Urban Space Designer Attributes 3 Factors to Its 30-Year Success’</

Jessica Muddit, Company Director Magazine, July 2018

‘Turning a Dull Park Into a Place People Actually Enjoy’

Adam Sneed, CityLab by The Atlantic, 1 March 2017

‘6 Low-Cost Techniques to Activate Underused Urban Space’

 

Ariana Zilliacus, ArchDaily, 23 February 2017

 

‘Study Proves Improved Landscape Design Attracts More Visitors’

 

The Real Estate Conversation, 20 February 2017

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