Dawson Mall Arbour, Mount Druitt

Client Blacktown City Council
Project Partners CHROFI (Architect)
State New South Wales

Shade shines brightly in Mount Druitt.

Blacktown is the fastest-growing LGA in NSW. To provide expanded public spaces and much-needed community facilities, Blacktown City Council approved the $27 million transformation of the Mount Druitt Town Centre in late 2019.


Fleetwood Urban was formally contracted to deliver one of the most visible pillars of the Masterplan – a kaleidoscopic curved custom arbour snaking its way through leafy Dawson Mall. As complex to detail as it was colourful to look at, the creative concept was originally conceived by CHROFI Architects. It featured an interconnected series of giant curved steel tubes, finished with more than 20km of hand-wound steel-cored rope and LED strip lighting and spotlights.


Following an extensive process of pre-construction and pre-assembly, final installation took place in May through to August 2023 with the spectacular arbour officially opening to the public after the soft landscaping was completed. The project was part-funded through the Australian Government’s Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Fund.

Our involvement.

Fleetwood Urban was initially contracted through CHROFI to deliver a Design Scoping Package (DSP) in 2021, offering construction advice and technical input as the arbour project began to take shape.


When the project transitioned into the delivery phase, Blacktown City Council went to tender and Fleetwood Urban was subsequently appointed to manufacture and install the approved structure.


Guided by our proprietary project methodology, one of the most critical steps in the entire project was ensuring the arbour was actually deliverable in the real world. This saw us conduct extensive detailing and testing, before the manufacturing and pre-assembly stages were completed off-site in our dedicated facility at Wetherill Park.


Site works at Dawson Mall began in late 2022, with final installation of the arbour sections taking place in May and June 2023.

  • Design Challenge

    Visually, the concept for the Dawson Mall arbour was amazing. However, realising it in real world conditions was an incredibly challenging task, requiring many months of development and refinement with both the architects from CHROFI and the end client, Blacktown City Council. By the time construction began, more than 500 hours of meticulous detailing and parametric modelling had been completed by the Fleetwood Urban Design team to ensure a brilliant outcome was actually achievable.

  • Construction Challenge

    Given the arbour’s size and complexity, significant resources were invested into the manufacturing and construction stages. Far too large to create in one piece, each section of the steel support frames needed to be carefully hand-welded with the all-important rope studs and lighting clips placed at precisely-calculated intervals before painting.


    Extensive prototype testing was also necessary to determine the most effective processes to tension and secure each section of coloured rope to minimise the need for ongoing maintenance.


    The challenges continued on site at Dawson Mall, with a complex network of 29 separate anchors required to secure the steel frames, which were then lowered carefully into place by crane and hand-connected, section by section.

  • Innovations

    Virtually every facet of the Dawson Mall arbour project required innovation. From the way the structure was initially designed and the extensive use of parametric modelling, to the final installation methodology, there were no precedents to follow. We explored, finessed and innovated as we went along to deliver an end result that perfectly matched the original vision.

  • Features

    • 20km+ of coloured rope
    • Interconnected curved steel tubing
    • 29 separate anchor points
    • LED strip lighting and spotlights
    • Bluetooth controlled lighting (Casambi wireless lighting control)

  • Materials

    • Circular Hollow Section steel tubing with 2-part protective coating
    • Synthetic steel-cored rope

  • Safety & Risk Considerations

    To reduce the risks of working at heights, the bulk of the painstaking process of hand-winding the 20km of coloured rope was completed with the steel frame resting safely on the ground in controlled off-site conditions.


    Given the central location of Dawson Mall, care also needed to be taken to develop suitable lifting methodology and pedestrian management during the crane installation stages.

  • Sustainability Considerations

    Public shade structures such as the new arbour in Dawson Mall aren’t just nice to look at. They play a vital role in helping to reduce the ‘heat island effect’ experienced by fast-growing communities across western Sydney.

Dawson Mall Arbour Before
Dawson Mall Arbour After

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