Form 4 - Neil Williams

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 FORM 4 -AMENDED
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                                             UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                                                         Washington, D.C.  20549

[ ] Check this box if no longer                STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP
    subject to Section 16. Form 4 or        Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities
    Form 5 obligations may continue.            Exchange Act of 1934, Section 17(a) of the
    See Instruction 1(b).                     Public Utility  Holding Company Act of 1935 or
                                            Section 30(f) of the Investment Company Act of 1940


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|1. Name and Address of Reporting Person* | 2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol  | 6. Relationship of Reporting Person(s)  |
|                                         |                                              |    to Issuer (Check allapplicable)      |
|   WILLIAMS     NEIL                     |    ACUITY BRANDS, INC. (AYI)                 |                                         |
|                                         |                                              |    [X] Director       [ ] 10% Owner     |
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|   (Last)      (First)       (Middle)    | 3. I.R.S. Identi-       | 4. Statement for   |    [ ] Officer (give  [ ] Other(specify |
|                                         |    fication Number      |    Month/Day/Year  |                           title below)  |
|    C/O ACUITY BRANDS, INC.              |    of  Reporting        |                    |                                         |
|    1170 PEACHTREE STREET, NE            |    Person, if an entity |    02/03/2003      |                                         |
|    SUITE 2400                           |    (voluntary)          |                    |                                         |
- ------------------------------------------|                         |---------------------------------------------------------------
|              (Street)                   |                         | 5. If Amendment,   | 7.  Individual or Joint/Group Filing    |
|                                         |                         |    Date of Original|    (Check Applicable Line)              |
|   ATLANTA      GEORGIA         30309    |                         |    (Month/Year)    |    [X]Form filed by One Reporting Person|
|                                         |                         |                    |    [ ]Form filed by More than One       |
|                                         |                         |    12/19/2002      |       Reporting Person                  |
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|  (City)        (State)         (Zip)                                                                                             |
|                                             Table I-- Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned     |
|                                                                                                                                  |
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|1.  Title of Security   |  2.  Trans-  |  3. Trans-   |4. Securities Acquired (A)  | 5. Amount of     | 6. Ownership | 7. Nature  |
|    (Instr. 3)          |      action  |     action   |   or Disposed of (D)       |    Securities    |    Form:     |    of      |
|                        |      Date    |     Code     |   (Instr. 3, 4 and 5)      |    Beneficially  |    Direct    |    Indirect|
|                        |      (Month/ |     (Instr.8)|                            |    Owned at      |    (D) or    |    Bene-   |
|                        |      Day/    |--------------------------------------------    End of Month  |    Indirect  |    ficial  |
|                        |      Year)   |   Code |   V |   Amount |  (A) or | Price |    (Instr. 3 and |    (I)       |    Owner-  |
|                        |              |        |     |          |  (D)    |       |     4)           |              |    ship    |
|                        |              |        |     |          |         |       |                  |              |   (Instr.4)|
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| COMMON STOCK           |              |        |     |          |         |       |     1,000        |    D         |            |
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|                        |              |        |     |          |         |       |                  |              |            |
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|                        |              |        |     |          |         |       |                  |              |            |
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Reminder:  Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially directly or indirectly.
*If the form is filed by more than one reporting person, see Instruction 4(b)(v).





 FORM 4 (continued)                   Table II - Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned
                                           (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities)

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|1. Title of Derivative       |  2. Conver-   |  3. Trans-   |   4. Trans-     | 5. Number of Deriv-      6.  Date Exerc-          |
|   Security (Instr. 3)       |     sion or   |     action   |      action     |    ative Securities          isable and           |
|                             |     Exercise  |     Date     |      Code       |    Acquired (A) or           Expiration           |
|                             |     Price of  |     (Month/  |      (Instr. 8) |    Disposed of (D)           Date                 |
|                             |     Deriv-    |     Day/     |                 |    (Instr. 3, 4 and 5)       (Month/Day/          |
|                             |     ative     |     Year)    |                 |                              Year)                |
|                             |     Security  |              |----------------------------------------------------------------------
|                             |               |              |   Code    |  V  |     (A)     |    (D)   |  Date        | Expira-   |
|                             |               |              |           |     |             |          |  Exercisable | tion Date |
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| DIRECTOR STOCK OPTION (FN 1)|   $14.95      |  12/19/02*   |     A     |     |    1,500    |          |  12/19/03    | 12/18/12  |
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| STOCK UNIT                  |   1 for 1     |  12/19/02*   |     A     |     |      350    |          |   (FN 3)     |  (FN 3)   |
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|7. Title and              |  8. Price of      |   9. Number of     |  10.  Ownership      |  11.  Nature of    |
|   Amount of              |     Derivative    |      Derivative    |       Form of        |       Indirect     |
|   Underlying             |     Security      |      Securities    |       Derivative     |       Beneficial   |
|   Securities             |     (Instr. 5)    |      Beneficially  |       Security:      |       Ownership    |
|   (Instr. 3 and 4)       |                   |      Owned at End  |       Direct (D)     |       (Instr. 4)   |
- ----------------------------                   |      of Month      |       or Indirect (I)|                    |
|  Title      |  Amount or |                   |      (Instr. 4)    |       (Instr. 4)     |                    |
|             |  Number of |                   |                    |                      |                    |
|             |  Shares    |                   |                    |                      |                    |
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|Common Stock |   1,500    |                   |      15,010 (FN 2) |       D              |                    |
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|Common Stock |     350    |       $14.49      |       9,401 (FN 3) |       D              |                    |
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Explanation of Responses:

*  Deemed Transaction Date is the same as Transaction Date.

FN 1. Award granted pursuant to the Acuity Brands, Inc. Non-Employee Director Stock Option Plan.  Option becomes exercisable
      one year from the date of grant and remains outstanding for ten years from the date of grant.

FN 2. Represents the total number of Director Stock Options held at various exercise prices and grant dates
      as of the Reporting Date.

FN 3. Stock Units are accrued under the Issuer's Nonemployee Directors' Deferred Stock Unit Plan and
      are payable in cash upon retirement.  Accruals include an annual grant, required and elective deferral
      of director fees and reinvestment of dividend equivalents.  During the Reporting Period, the Reporting
      Person received an annual grant of 350 units.




/s/ Jill A. Gilmer, as Power
  of Attorney for Neil Williams          02/05/2003
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** Signature of Reporting Person             Date



** Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal Violations.
   See 18 U.S.C 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a).
Note:  File three copies of this Form, one of which must be manually signed.
       If space is insufficient, see Instruction 6 for procedure.
Potential persons who are to respond to the collection of information contained
in this form are not required to respond unless the form displays a currently valid OMB Number.
Power of Attorney


                                POWER OF ATTORNEY

     Know all by these  presents,  that the undersigned  hereby  constitutes and
appoints each of Kenyon W. Murphy,  Senior Vice  President and General  Counsel,
Helen D. Haines,  Vice  President and Secretary,  and Jill A. Gilmer,  Assistant
Secretary,  signing singly, the undersigned's  true and lawful  attorney-in-fact
to:

1.   execute for and on behalf of the undersigned, in the undersigned's capacity
     as an officer  and/or  director of Acuity  Brands,  Inc.  (the  "Company"),
     Forms 3,  4,  and 5 in  accordance  with  Section 16(a)  of the  Securities
     Exchange Act of 1934 and the rules thereunder;

2.   do and perform any and all acts for and on behalf of the undersigned  which
     may be necessary  or desirable to complete and execute any such Form 3,  4,
     or 5, complete and execute any amendment or amendments thereto,  and timely
     file such form with the United States  Securities  and Exchange  Commission
     and any stock exchange or similar authority; and

3.   take  any  other  action  of any type  whatsoever  in  connection  with the
     foregoing which, in the opinion of such attorney-in-fact, may be of benefit
     to, in the best interest of, or legally  required by, the  undersigned,  it
     being understood that the documents  executed by such  attorney-in-fact  on
     behalf of the  undersigned  pursuant to this Power of Attorney  shall be in
     such  form  and  shall   contain   such  terms  and   conditions   as  such
     attorney-in-fact may approve in such attorney-in-fact's discretion.

     The undersigned hereby grants to each such  attorney-in-fact full power and
authority  to do and perform any and every act and thing  whatsoever  requisite,
necessary,  or proper to be done in the exercise of any of the rights and powers
herein granted, as fully to all intents and purposes as the undersigned might or
could do if personally  present,  with full power of substitution or revocation,
hereby  ratifying  and  confirming  all  that  such  attorney-in-fact,  or  such
attorney-in-fact's  substitute or substitutes,  shall lawfully do or cause to be
done by virtue of this  power of  attorney  and the  rights  and  powers  herein
granted. The undersigned acknowledges that the foregoing  attorneys-in-fact,  in
serving in such  capacity at the request of the  undersigned,  are not assuming,
nor is the Company assuming, any of the undersigned's responsibilities to comply
with Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

     This Power of  Attorney  shall  remain in full  force and effect  until the
undersigned is no longer  required to file Forms 3, 4, and 5 with respect to the
undersigned's  holdings of and transactions in securities issued by the Company,
unless earlier revoked by the  undersigned in a signed writing  delivered to the
foregoing attorneys-in-fact.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned has caused this Power of Attorney to be
executed as of this 20th day of August, 2002.



                                     /s/ Neil Williams
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                                                 Signature

                                     Neil Williams
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