Cemetery road had long been a dead spot for Optus city coverage. To address this issue two sites were planed to allow flawless coverage for motorists passing through the area, planning having begun as early as 2001. Originally envisaged as a rooftop site, continual difficulties with landowners had forced Optus to look at other options for locating a site at the desired intersection.

Inspired by the successful info hub series TCI approached Melbourne city council to enquire about the possibility of incorporating an Optus site within another piece of council street furniture. Though another information hub was not practical for this location, Melbourne city council suggested the possibility of incorporating an Optus site into an existing Melbourne city council border sign design.

Given the fact that the original emphasis of the sign was to be aesthetically pleasing, great restraint was placed on any outer dimension modifications.

As the equipment to be used was well known it was possible to design with a relatively high degree of accuracy. This proved critical, as OH+S accessibility constraints indicated that the only practical location for Optus equipment within the sign itself was within the column. Careful collaboration between Optus, Melbourne city council and the structural consultants allowed for an overall design acceptable to all parties. This required the overall column dimensions to be increased from 200*200 to 260*360, effectively the largest increase that would be allowed, for aesthetic purposes. Designing to suit, issues to overcome included the sliding rail system that would allow field ops access to the BTS unit, and a hinge-less lockable door mechanism, which would have minimal impact to the outer surface of the column. With these issues addressed, and all factors taken into account, the total margin for error in the width dimension had become 5mm.

Due to the high accuracy required, and the consequences of the equipment not fitting in this $40,000 item, great lengths were taken to ensure design accuracy and supervision during construction.

The complexity of the installation appeared to mimic the design. Continual liaising with the foundation design Engineer was required to work around numerous (unmarked) in ground services encountered on site. Foundation redesign was required as the construction deadline approached. Below ground issues solved, aboveground issues became even more numerous. Given the close proximity of powerlines, and tramlines, coordination of many different authorities was required for the installation of the 6.5m high sign to go ahead. With only days to go before the deadline, the day had come; under the watchful eyes of tramways and Citipower the difficult task of craning the sign into position at this busy intersection was undertaken. Finally in, the troubles were not over with, industrial action at Citipower threatened to blow the PC date beyond the deadline, as the forecast "power on" date could no longer be confirmed. Due to much persistence, patience and a bit of luck, PC and RFI were achieved on the last day of March, deadline day.

An interesting site, with many design difficulties to overcome and with many "interest groups" to keep happy, it was a site that not only required intelligent solutions but intelligent communication.