Regenerative urban transport: designing infrastructure for a changing climate

As Australia invests in a new era of public transport infrastructure, sustainability has become a defining principle, not a design afterthought.

With population growth, climate volatility, and shifting urban patterns reshaping our cities, rail projects now have the potential to deliver more than just mobility. They must act as catalysts to regenerate ecosystems, reduce carbon, and enrich the communities they traverse.

Natural light and airflow at Bradfield Station, Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport

TARGETING CARBON NEUTRAL FROM DAY ONE

The Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport project on Dharug Country in Western Sydney, Australia aims to be the country’s first carbon-neutral rail infrastructure from construction through operation.

Our design responds to place and leverages passive strategies — maximising daylight, natural ventilation, and minimising energy use. A focus of reducing consumption by optimising the size of stations, opening façades and deploying skylights to flood stations with natural light combine with louvred elements and open entrances enable effective airflow.

In Perth, Bayswater Station is already setting a national benchmark as one of the few Australian railway stations to earn a 6 Star Green Star rating. Designed with sustainability at its core, the station features 190 rooftop solar panels, which reduce an estimated 93.8 tonnes of CO₂e emissions annually.

Public plaza at St Marys Station, Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport

BUILDING SMARTER WITH LESS IMPACT

Materials matter. On the Victoria Park to Canning Level Crossing Removal Project in Perth’s southern suburbs on Whadjuk Country, we’re working with the Armadale Line Upgrade Alliance to explore the use of recycled materials — including crushed concrete for road base and recycled plastics in non-structural station elements.

At St Marys Station on the Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport line, a rigorous technical review led to a significantly reduced footprint — cutting embodied carbon and enabling a generous public plaza that anchors the station in its civic context. The project targets at least a 20% reduction in embodied carbon by prioritising low-carbon and high-recycled-content materials.

8,000 plants across 110 (predominantly) native species were used in the Sydney Metro Planting Trials at Hills Showground Station

GREENER RAIL FOR HEALTHIER CITIES

Rail infrastructure can do more than connect cities — it can reconnect and restore ecosystems. Sydney Metro Western Sydney Airport, for example, is not just a transport project, but a framework for a nature-centred, smart city incorporating a 23-kilometre corridor of ecologically restored Cumberland Plain landscape.

Similarly, the Sydney Metro Planting Trials at Hills Showground Station demonstrate how transport projects can regenerate biodiversity. In partnership with the University of Melbourne, Hassell introduced 110 native species across 8,000 plants in a trial designed to attract pollinators and build climate resilience. This naturalistic, low-maintenance landscape is being monitored to guide future metro plantings — proving that station plazas can become thriving green spaces, not just thoroughfares.

3D tactile station models enabled community members to provide valuable feedback by tracing the models with their fingers

Inclusive and accessible wayfinding at Yeronga Station

MORE THAN MOVEMENT: STATIONS AS SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Well-designed stations are not just transit points — they’re social infrastructure. When thoughtfully embedded in their local context, they improve equity, access, safety, and belonging. Hassell’s design (as part of the ActivUs Alliance) of the new station precincts for the Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail project in South East Queensland prioritises public life, uniting communities through places designed with people at their heart.

Meanwhile, in Perth, the Level Crossing Removal Project will return over six hectares of previously inaccessible rail land to the public through a linear park rich in native ecology, resulting in positive community value.

DESIGNING FOR EVERYONE: PUTTING PEOPLE AT THE CENTRE

For Brisbane’s Cross River Rail, we focused on making the entire experience more inclusive, intuitive, and accessible for everyone who uses it. Working with the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority, we helped establish an Accessibility Reference Group to involve people with lived experience early in the design process. Their insights shaped real outcomes — from better drop-off zones and clearer wayfinding to braille maps and improved access to every platform. It’s a reminder that designing with people, not just for them, creates transport systems that truly work for all.