12d Synergy Enables Civil BIM on the M1 to M3 Project for Jacobs

Watch: M1/M3/Gateway Motorway Merge (Pacific Motorway Upgrade)

Watch a presentation given by Peter Ryan (Jacobs, Technical Director, Digital Engineering) at our sold-out 2018 12d Technical Forum. Learn about the challenges, workflows and benefits of designing the M1/M3 project under civil BIM, and how 12d Synergy enabled this.

Queensland’s highest trafficked section of road, the intersection of the M1/M3/Gateway Motorways, is a major bottleneck in the Brisbane network, with around 78,000 vehicles daily. The Pacific Motorway upgrade project aims to ease the pain: improving travel time, reliability and safety for commuters, whilst also helping freight companies operate more efficiently.

The $190m Pacific Motorway project was tendered as a design and construct by the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR). Jacobs provided the designs for Lendlease, the principal contractor.

Civil BIM on the M1 to M3 Project

The project is noteworthy because Jacobs delivered the design for TMR as a building information modelling (BIM) project using 12d Model. M1/M3 was TMR’s third BIM pilot project. The application of BIM to M1/M3, a conventional highway project, demonstrates that the advantages of BIM are not reserved for major complex projects, but also benefit smaller and simpler projects.

Jacob’s principal objective for M1/M3 was to take the BIM workflows and processes developed during the project and apply them to all other conventional delivery projects – not just those projects that are readily defined as being ‘BIM projects’.

Challenges of Civil BIM

But delivering M1/M3 as a BIM project was challenging. Civil BIM projects require much of the deep design detail to be performed up front, and Jacobs had to balance this with the project’s strict deadlines and budget.

Enabling a BIM Common Data Environment

Implementing BIM for projects requires adapting to new and different data management systems. Jacobs chose 12d Synergy for all working data on the M1/M3 project. 12d Synergy enabled all parties to be connected in a common data environment. They’re also encouraging all other disciplines within their company to adopt 12d Synergy, due to the benefits it provides.

Jacobs developed workflows for transferring deliverables from 12d Synergy to TMR.  Documents were published to TMR directly from 12d Synergy via Lendlease’s document control process. 12d Synergy’s web drop feature was also used to transfer large files from Jacob’s system directly into TMR’s 12d Synergy.

Benefits of 12d Synergy for Jacobs

The key benefit for Jacobs was enhanced data integrity thanks to 12d Synergy’s single source of truth, according to Peter Ryan, Technical Director, Digital Engineering:

“For me the key [benefit] is the integrity of our data. The data doesn’t leave the system. We have faith that we always have the latest data. We don’t have any questions about whether it is the right data,” Peter Ryan explains.

Flexible work arrangements:

12d Synergy enabled Jacobs’ design team to work from anywhere. For Jacobs, flexible working allowed its staff to balance their work and life priorities, whilst also maximising productivity by minimising staff burn out.

Access to a global resource pool:

With 12d Synergy, Jacobs was able to engage designers from Brisbane, Cairns, Hobart and Sydney for the M1/M3 project. This meant that Jacobs was able to leverage specialist skills regardless of geographic location.

Common data environment for all 12d Model projects:

12d Synergy has become Jacobs’ working environment for all its 12d projects. Peter Ryan notes that even single designer projects are now set up in 12d Synergy.

Learn about the full story:

Watch a presentation given my Peter Ryan (Jacobs, Technical Director, Digital Engineering) at our sold-out 2018 12d Technical Forum.

Learn about the challenges, workflows and benefits of designing the M1/M3 project under civil BIM, and how 12d Synergy enabled this.