Freeway projects in Sydney and Melbourne, and a substation renewal in Perth, were among the infrastructure projects celebrated internationally at the Going Digital Awards hosted by engineering software provider Bentley Systems.
Announced at the gala dinner that culminated Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure 2025 conference, the Australian projects were recognised as finalists in the Construction, Roads and Highways, and Transmission and Distribution categories.
Held this year in Amsterdam, the Bentley Going Digital Awards celebrate digital advancements in infrastructure across 12 categories, with nominations coming from close to 250 projects representing 47 countries.
The road to success
Arcadis’s work on Sydney’s Warringah Freeway upgrade secured the company a spot among the finalists in the Roads and Highways category. To link the road corridor north of the Sydney Harbour Bridge with the under-construction Western Harbour Tunnel, the upgrade incorporates improvements to four grade-separated interchanges and the replacement or modification of 10 bridges.
Using digital twins, staging simulations, and modelling and construction management applications, the Arcadis team brought the project schedule forward by six to eight weeks, resolved more than 2000 design clashes and saved 324,000 work hours.
“Arcadis and Jacobs’ Joint Venture delivered the detailed design using advanced digital engineering techniques … to maximise coordination and collaboration, and also to be able to communicate the design efficiently,” said Arcadis Technical Leader for Road Design Mark Shamoun while presenting the project.
“The whole point of the upgrade is to simplify traffic flow; make it easier for people to be able to get to where they need to go without having to merge and divert during traffic movements; make it safer, bringing it up to current standards; but also cater for future traffic demands.”
An additional Arcadis road project was recognised during the awards, with the company’s Coffs Harbour bypass receiving Founders Honors, a distinction presented to a small number of exemplary projects, individuals and organisations that advance the world’s infrastructure for better quality of life.
Constructing a solution
Also claiming a place among the finalists was Acciona Australia’s 4D-planning work for Melbourne’s M80 Ring Road, which was selected in the Construction category. Part of the Victorian Government’s North East Link, the project completes the new freeway corridor with 14 km of road lanes, 10 km of pedestrian and cycle lanes, and eight bridges.
Incorporating a connected data environment and a digital twin, which provides a foundation for the freeway’s future asset information model, the Acciona team’s digital solution brought costs down, reduced model creation and analysis time, and saved an estimated 22 weeks of rework.
“Multidisciplinary design, phased construction and a fast-tracked schedule demanded a digital solution,” said Acciona’s senior 4D planner and digital engineering lead Sina Yavari. “Our answer was a digital ecosystem with Bentley solutions at its core.
“Our digital strategy harnessed both efficiency and transparency, as an alliance that first committed to building smarter BIM structures, aligning cost curves and work breakdowns to create an integrated model breakdown structure. This enabled seamless 4D and 5D workflows.”
Kaushik Chakraborty, Bentley Senior Vice President for Asia Pacific and Japan, said he’d paid particular attention to the Acciona and Arcadis projects.
“I think they are redefining the way collaboration works,” Chakraborty said. “What they were able to bring are a lot of lessons learned from previous projects. Every project has to be smarter than the one you did before. It’s never going to be perfect; you can only be better than the last one. I think they truly are.”
Electrifying transformation
Meanwhile, Australia’s west also saw representation, with APD Global’s digital transformation of the Bunning Lake substation in Perth recognised in the Transmission and Distribution category.
“This project is critical for the city of Perth,” said APD Country Director for Italy William Peasland.
“It’s aimed at increasing the availability and supply of power and, above all, support the city’s continuous investment towards public transportation. We made a very conscious decision from day one that [environmental, social and governance] would be at the heart of the delivery model, giving it the same importance as time, cost and quality.“
APD’s integrated solution upgraded the existing 132 kV West Perth substation, reducing project delivery time and costs by 15 per cent.
Peasland presented the solution with APD Country Director for Malaysia Sean Lee, who demonstrated how digital transformation helped the team overcome such legacy design limitations, such as fragmented workflows, limited visualisation and collaboration barriers.
“This project is a testament to the transformational powers of digital engineering,” Peasland said. “As we continue on our BIM digital transformation journey, we are certain that, with the tools from Bentley – the ones that we are using and the ones that we are currently exploring – we will be able to deliver, with precision and efficiency, scalable solutions that replicate success.”
These weren’t the only projects recognised recently for outstanding engineering. The winners of the Engineers Australia Excellence Awards have been announced, from strong competition.
