As a boutique consultancy we've been lucky to be involved in some great collaborative projects
Our work represents years of forging a unique offering in the Australian placemaking field. As a practice, we fill the gap between community aspirations, place narratives and creative, nuanced outcomes. We work across the entire placemaking process with specialist skills in all aspects from up-front engagement and co-design, through to design and documentation and then into bespoke delivery.
From the deep ecological narratives of the award-winning Southport Broadwater Play Attractor to the multi-awarded main street revitalisation of Miles, our work is defined by a rigorous commitment to people-and-place-specific storytelling interpreted and expressed creatively in the public realm.
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Miles Main Street Revitalisation: Regional Placemaking & Urban Renewal
Miles Main Street Revitalisation: Regional Placemaking & Urban Renewal
Regional town centres often struggle with generic urban design that fails to resonate with local history or encourage economic “stickiness.” In the heart of the Western Downs, the town of Miles required more than a standard streetscape upgrade; it needed a strategic revitalisation that could express its unique cultural heritage while fostering a renewed sense of community pride.
Palmwoods Town Square: Delivering Community Identity through Creative Placemaking - Bespoke Urban Infrastructure
Palmwoods Town Square: Delivering Community Identity through Creative Placemaking - Bespoke Urban Infrastructure
For decades, the physical centre of Palmwoods was defined by a sloping asphalt car park that offered utility but no community connection. The Sunshine Coast Council identified the need to transform this functional void into a genuine town square.
The challenge was not simply to build a modern park, but to deliver a “civic heart” that felt established and authentic. The community did not want a generic urban upgrade; they demanded a space that reflected the town’s timber-getting history and agricultural heritage. The mandate was to create new infrastructure that felt like it had been there for a century and fit with the historical buildings that surrounded it.
Southport Broadwater Play Attraction: Delivering Place-Based Creative Play Infrastructure
Southport Broadwater Play Attraction: Delivering Place-Based Creative Play Infrastructure
Destination playgrounds are increasingly vital for urban activation, but they often rely on off-the-shelf equipment that lacks connection to place. For the Southport Broadwater Parklands, the City of Gold Coast required an iconic play attraction that was not only fun but deeply rooted in the ecological narrative of the Broadwater Estuary.
Landsborough Main Street Revitalisation: Driving Regional Identity through Creative Infrastructure
Landsborough Main Street Revitalisation: Driving Regional Identity through Creative Infrastructure
POMO was engaged to work alongside the Sunshine Coast Council in the renewal of Cribb Street - Landsborough’s main street. The project was part of a larger master planning process being run by council.
Specifically we participated in the community engagement process to help ascertain community attitudes and expectations around the revitalisation project.
108 Wickham Street: Delivering Strategic Creative Placemaking in Fortitude Valley
108 Wickham Street: Delivering Strategic Creative Placemaking in Fortitude Valley
Fortitude Valley is one of Brisbane’s most dynamic commercial precincts, yet the public realm between 100 and 108 Wickham Street had become a fragmented and underutilised thoroughfare. The asset owners required a repositioning strategy to transform this void into a high-value “third space” for tenants and the public.
Mackay Place Strategy: From Vision to Activation
Mackay Place Strategy: From Vision to Activation
Mackay’s City Centre and Waterfront were facing a common regional challenge: despite significant investment in infrastructure, the public realm lacked the “stickiness” required to drive economic activity. The opening of a nearby major shopping centre and changing consumer habits had drained life from the streets.
Sippy Downs Entrance Statement: Creating Place-Led Infrastructure
Sippy Downs Entrance Statement: Creating Place-Led Infrastructure
Sippy Downs serves as the gateway to the Sunshine Coast’s primary knowledge precinct, housing the University of the Sunshine Coast and various schools. The challenge was to define this precinct through a compelling entry statement situated at a major intersection upgrade. The project required a design that not only marked a physical threshold but also articulated the area’s identity as a hub of education and biodiversity.
Nambour CBD Creative Renewal: Activating the Night-Time Economy
Nambour CBD Creative Renewal: Activating the Night-Time Economy
For regional centres like Nambour, the “night-time economy” is often hampered by poor lighting and a perception of disjointed safety. The town required a strategic intervention to shift the public realm from a transit corridor into a destination that felt safe, vibrant, and welcoming after dark.
Dura Gunga: Delivering First Nations Cultural Art as Public Infrastructure
Dura Gunga: Delivering First Nations Cultural Art as Public Infrastructure
Integrating authentic First Nations narratives into civic infrastructure requires more than just artistic vision; it demands a rigorous delivery framework that respects cultural protocols while meeting public safety standards. For the entrance to the new City Hall in Maroochydore, the Sunshine Coast Council required a landmark piece that would permanently embed the Gubi Gubi story into the built environment.
Nambour Community Revitalisation: The 100% Bottom-Up Model
Nambour Community Revitalisation: The 100% Bottom-Up Model
Nambour was suffering from a distinct form of regional fatigue: a perception of “too much talk, not enough action.” Despite multiple government-funded planning initiatives, the town remained in economic decline, plagued by high business turnover and social dislocation.
C-Square Precinct Wayfinding: Creating Legibility in Complex Urban Environments
C-Square Precinct Wayfinding: Creating Legibility in Complex Urban Environments
Located in Nambour on the Sunshine Coast, the C-Square precinct presented a significant urban design challenge. Characterised by a confusing “matrix” layout and difficult sightlines, the precinct suffered from low pedestrian permeability. Visitors were frequently unaware of key amenities, including a concealed elevator and transit connections, which directly impacted the economic viability of upper-level tenancies.
High Street Armadale: Strategic Temporary Activation
High Street Armadale: Strategic Temporary Activation
High Street Armadale is one of Melbourne’s premier destinations for luxury shopping and personal services. However, despite its commercial success, the street suffered from a specific functional deficit: a lack of public seating. Visitors waiting for appointments or shopping partners had nowhere to pause, forcing them to stand or leave the immediate area.
Smart City Signage Infrastructure: Maroochydore City Centre
Smart City Signage Infrastructure: Maroochydore City Centre
Establishing a new greenfield CBD requires a bold departure from standard urban design. The Maroochydore City Centre is not just a commercial precinct but a benchmark for future-ready urbanism on the Sunshine Coast. The challenge was to move beyond generic street signage and deliver intelligent, interactive highly durable assets that reinforce the precinct’s place identity.
Winter Street: Creating Community Connection through Placemaking and Data
Winter Street: Creating Community Connection through Placemaking and Data
Malvern’s Winter Street “pocket park” presented a classic urban design failure: a residual green space strategically located between a toy library, a childcare centre, and a supermarket, yet completely underutilised. The site offered zero amenity, two lonely benches meant local workers ate lunch on the ground and families transited through without pausing. The City of Stonnington required a rapid, evidence-based intervention to test the site’s potential before committing to significant capital works.
POMO’s Bush Studio: Delivering a Benchmark in Sustainable Commercial Office Design
POMO’s Bush Studio: Delivering a Benchmark in Sustainable Commercial Office Design
Building a commercial headquarters in the Sunshine Coast hinterland presented a complex technical challenge. The site featured a steep gradient and significant old-growth vegetation, requiring a construction methodology that would eliminate the need for heavy earthworks or excavation. The objective was to move beyond standard office typologies and deliver a “living lab” that physically demonstrated our philosophy of cost-effective, high-performance, and environmentally sensitive design.
Dandenong Living Neighbourhood: Transitioning to Community-Led Placemaking
Dandenong Living Neighbourhood: Transitioning to Community-Led Placemaking
In the heart of the Dandenong town centre, the City of Greater Dandenong identified a critical operational challenge. Two key precincts the Southern Gateway (Settlers Square and train station surrounds) and the Northern Bookend (Palm Plaza) were struggling with poor amenity, safety perceptions, and a lack of social cohesion.
Caloundra Community & Creative Hub: Embedding Cultural Narrative in Built Form
Caloundra Community & Creative Hub: Embedding Cultural Narrative in Built Form
The Sunshine Coast Council faced a significant urban design challenge: how to transform the heart of Caloundra into a cohesive “Community and Creative Hub.” The project scope involved integrating major new cultural assets, a contemporary Library and Regional Gallery, with a new Town Square and high street connection.
Montville Creative Lighting: Activating the Night-Time Economy
Montville Creative Lighting: Activating the Night-Time Economy
Montville is a jewel of the Sunshine Coast hinterland, yet its primary public park was underutilised once the sun went down. Local community groups identified a clear need to improve the night-time appeal of the space, transforming it from a dark thoroughfare into a safe and inviting destination for evening gatherings.
Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3: Creative Placemaking in Major Transport Infrastructure
Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3: Creative Placemaking in Major Transport Infrastructure
The Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3 corridor, stretching from Broadbeach to Burleigh Heads, risked becoming a homogenous transit strip that ignored the rich, distinct histories of the suburbs it traversed. While the engineering requirement was for efficient transport, the cultural requirement was to resurrect the lost identities of the coast.
Nundah Village: Delivering Placemaking through Tactical Infrastructure
Nundah Village: Delivering Placemaking through Tactical Infrastructure
Nundah Village, a vibrant hub in Brisbane’s north, faced a common urban dilemma: a high-quality streetscape dominated by vehicle transit, leaving little room for genuine community connection. Brisbane City Council (BCC) identified the need to reclaim asphalt for people, but permanent capital works required distinct, data-led justification.
Understanding & Applying Place Character: Operationalising the ‘Spirit of Place’
Understanding & Applying Place Character: Operationalising the ‘Spirit of Place’
While high-level design strategies often define broad values, they rarely provide the technical detail required for architects to translate “local character” into built form. The Sunshine Coast Council faced this exact “Implementation Gap.” They possessed a foundational vision but needed a practical manual that would allow the development industry to interpret the unique “Genius Loci” (spirit of place) of the coastal corridor. The challenge was to move beyond generic aesthetic upgrades and provide a granular, evidence-based toolkit that could guide design outcomes across three distinct geographic zones: Maroochydore, Kawana and Caloundra.
Nambour Public Art: Strategic Creative Infrastructure for CBD Renewal
Nambour Public Art: Strategic Creative Infrastructure for CBD Renewal
Nambour’s CBD faced significant perception challenges. Key transit corridors, particularly the pedestrian tunnel connecting the train station to the civic precinct, were viewed as unsafe and unwelcoming. Furthermore, the precinct suffered from poor legibility; essential amenities like the public elevator were “hidden” behind blank façades, confusing visitors. The challenge was to use creative interventions not merely for beautification, but as a functional tool to solve these Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and wayfinding issues.
