Future-Proofing with Stratavault at groundbreaking Smart City project, Maroochydore City Centre
Sun Central – Maroochydore CBD
Maroochydore City Centre (MCC) on the Queensland’s Sunshine Coast will be the first purpose-built city in the world designed specifically for driverless cars. A rare greenfield opportunity for developers SunCentral, the city will feature a range of innovative technology including:
- Internet connectivity of unlimited speed enabled by a giant undersea cable
- An automated underground, vacuum waste system
- Automated light poles that respond to changes in natural light
- Induction-charging roads to enable electric vehicles to stay powered constantly
© Regional Development Australia Sunshine Coast
Entrepreneur and technology advisor, Zach Johnson, said, “We want to build something that doesn’t currently exist. In what must be almost a first in the modern era, we don’t have legacy infrastructure to contend with, we’re building from scratch. We’ve got this greenfield site and that gives us the opportunity to identify what sort of infrastructure is most beneficial to the use of autonomous vehicles — but that’s just one piece.”
Another crucial piece to any successful urban centre is sustainable green space. Sunshine Coast Regional Council completed a successful tree pit trial with Citygreen in Caloundra five years ago and introduced SunCentral to this innovative technology. SunCentral and Citygreen connected, with Citygreen completing a thorough Cost Benefit Analysis for the MCC project.
The challenge was that the initial design did not allow much room for trees in the sidewalk and road alignment. Trish Menzies, Senior Landscape Architect and Director at Vee Design, felt very strongly about the importance of incorporating green space and altered the design to include a continuous corridor vault where tree pits could go. With a dedicated space set aside, Citygreen completed thorough technical design and construction drawings for the Stratavault system, enabling 61 trees to successfully mesh in with the surrounding infrastructure. With just a few design revisions, SunCentral was happy with the design and constructability.
Construction is currently underway with positive feedback from the contractor, who says Citygreen’s detailed technical drawings have made the process quick and efficient. They’ve also been surprised by how quickly the system is going in – so much so that they’re ahead of schedule. Stay tuned for a full report when this groundbreaking project is completed.
Visit this page for more information on Citygreen’s innovative urban landscape solutions.
Source: https://www.realcommercial.com.au/news/new-queensland-cbd-designed-for-driverless-cars