ERCO Case Study: Lighting to keep NSW moving

May 2026 Case Study

Sydney’s Transport Management Centre (TMC) in Eveleigh first opened back in 1999, when it managed around 70 road-based incidents per day. Now, thanks to population expansion and the consolidation of the service to cover all modes of transport, the incident rate has risen to around 700 per day. It’s a busy, demanding workplace with highly public consequences when things don’t run smoothly.

Thanks to the recent $10 million dollar facility upgrade, travellers in NSW should continue to enjoy a relaxed – or at least well-informed – journey.

Supporting 24-hour operation

In order to meet security needs and 24-hour seamless operation, the large operating hub of the TMC building has no access to internal daylight. To support the circadian rhythm needs of operators regardless of the time of day, an artificial daylight effect was created through the inclusion of tunable white ceiling luminaires that manipulate the colour of light above the eyeline. The colour shift is gradual, a subtle transition than helps maintain alertness and visual comfort in a unique working environment. Wallwashing on the verticals around the control room helps to balance light from above and provide a backdrop that complements screen-based activity.

Tailored to the Activity

As well as meeting the human centric needs of staff working in pressured roles that call for high levels of attention, the TMC needed to guarantee clear screen visibility with no glare impediment. This applied to both the individual operators’ screens and the 23-metre-long digital screen wall, with its live feed from cameras focused on road and transport corridors across the state. The lighting design uses low glare luminaires that reduce both direct and reflected light, but place quality illuminance on the work surface.

The lighting tools

The team that delivered the TMC upgrade included architects Davenport Campbell and consultants Compass Intelle. They worked with ERCO Channel Partner Jadecross, who recommended tunable white luminaires equipped with Casambi modules. ERCO Parscan projectors cast even light upwards from Invia track across the dome-shaped ceiling. From the same infrastructure, ERCO Eclipse spotlights accent architecture and activities below the horizontal – the Eclipse spotlight has a side-mount bracket that allows a 270° tilt whereas Parscan has a tighter 90° tilt; the two spotlights fulfil different roles but deliver the same quality light. ERCO Invia light structure, into which the spotlights are mounted, delivers general downlight from some of the lowest glare modules available in linear form.  

In the workstation section with lower ceilings, carefully spaced ERCO Jilly low-glare downlights in track provide zonal light for desk-based operators. Complementary tunable white illuminance is provided by Parscan wallwashers inserted into the same track for a uniform effect at the perimeter of the space. The entire lighting system is controlled remotely by Casambi; there are pre-programmed scenes, but each individual luminaire can also be over-ridden for personalisation.

The Transport Management Centre is a critical control centre that dictates the ease of flow for a population of several million. We depend on the people in the Centre to make that happen, and their comfort and alertness is crucial. In a setting with no natural light, this is strongly influenced by the artificial lighting design. Each time you make it safely and smoothly from A to B in Sydney, you can thank the thoughtful planning of the lighting designers behind this recent Eveleigh upgrade.

Find out more about products used here:

Parscan | Invia | Eclipse | Jilly

Channel Partner: Jadecross
Client: Transport for NSW
Consulting Engineer: Compass Intelle Engineering Group
Interior Architect: Davenport Campbell
Builder: Renascent
Photographer: Jackie Chan