The 2025 Bentley Systems’ Year in Infrastructure and Going Digital Awards highlighted a diverse set of infrastructure projects that demonstrate practical applications of emerging digital technologies. Held in Amsterdam, October 15–16, this year’s event recognized infrastructure professionals using Bentley software in innovative ways to design, build, and operate a wide range of facilities.
Award winners at Bentley Systems' Going Digital Awards winners. Image source: Bentley Systems.
Of the nearly 250 nominated projects, winners were selected in 12 categories by a panel of independent judges. Common themes included the use of 3D modeling, digital twins, artificial intelligence, and other technologies to improve project outcomes, along with a growing emphasis on operation and maintenance of infrastructure facilities.
“These groundbreaking projects demonstrate how leading infrastructure engineering and construction companies, together with innovative owner-operators, are harnessing digital advancements — from connected data to AI — to transform project delivery and elevate asset performance,” said Chris Bradshaw, chief sustainability and education officer, Bentley Systems.
While the awards cover entries from rail to roads, to project delivery and energy production, this article highlights three categories with notable engineering innovations: Structural Engineering, Subsurface Modeling and Analysis, and Bridges and Tunnels.
Palace Showcases Structural Design
One of the more visually striking projects was the Fairmont Palace in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India, award winner in the Structural Engineering category. Designed by AVS Engineers | ISID Structures and Nikhil Mahashur and Associates, the 500,000-square-foot luxury hotel is designed to celebrate Rajasthani heritage in a modern setting, with ornate domes, courtyards, landscaped gardens, and banquet halls. The site’s steep terrain and complex structural requirements posed major challenges, such as multi-level design, seismic compliance, and swimming pools located directly above event spaces.
The Fairmont Palace in Udaipur, India, award winner in the Structural Engineering category, features ornate domes, courtyards, landscaped gardens, and banquet halls. Image source: Bentley Systems.
To address these challenges, AVS built a connected digital modeling environment using Bentley software: STAAD.Pro for modeling the building and terrain conditions, as well as designing numerous structural and architectural components; RAM Structural System for designing unique elements such as post-tensioned beams spanning over 40 meters long to support swimming and event pools; and RAM Elements for design of retaining walls, shell structures, and other structures interacting with soils.
The team reports completing the project four months ahead of schedule and reducing costs by more than INR 3.8 crore (400,000 USD) in costs. The digital solution optimized designs to save 420 metric tons of steel and 2,400 cubic meters of concrete, reducing carbon emissions by more than 800 metric tons. Sustainability was emphasized throughout the project, with native stone used in lieu of importing special materials. Advanced construction logistics included the use of IoT sensors to monitor concrete curing and maintain tight schedules.
“We used a model-first stakeholder approach,” said Siddarth Sharma, AVS Director and Engineering Consultant. By sharing models with the client and other stakeholders on an ongoing basis, the team was able to streamline interdisciplinary collaboration and reduce design-cycle loops by 30%, according to Sharma.
AVS Engineers used Bentley’s STAAD.Pro, RAM Structural System, and RAM Elements to model and analyze the Fairmont Palace Structures. Image source: Bentley Systems.
Subsurface Work Leads to Energy Gains
Other award winners presented innovative solutions in less visible environments. In the Subsurface Modeling and Analysis category, award winner Fervo Energy described how digital technology is being used to deliver large amounts of geothermal energy. In Beaver County, Utah, Fervo is helping develop a large, next-generation geothermal energy development. Upon completion of the first two phases, the Cape Station project will produce 500 megawatts of energy.
To make geothermal energy more accessible, the Fervo team relies heavily on horizontal drilling to increase surface area contact with wells, along with hydraulic stimulation to create fractures along well bores for accessing geothermal energy sources. To analyze subsurface conditions, Fervo created 3D geomodels to better understand drilling conditions and improve the likelihood of success. The models were made accessible to the exploration team and project participants across five offices in three different time zones.
“These models allowed us to significantly de-risk the project,” said Steven Fercho, Exploration Geoscience Manager at Fervo Energy.
Fervo used Bentley’s Seequent software products — Oasis montaj for 2D geophysical modeling and Leapfrog Energy for creating a 3D integrated model — generating detailed 3D subsurface characterization models accessible in Seequent Central’s centralized environment. The models enabled the team to visualize, track, and manage large geotechnical datasets and better anticipate what to expect while drilling.
Fervo used Oasis montaj for 2D geophysical modeling and Leapfrog Energy for creating a 3D integrated model, helping them improve the likelihood of success when drilling. Image source: Bentley Systems.
The first phase of the project is scheduled to go online in 2026, with the second phase scheduled to follow in 2028. The total output is anticipated to offset 2.4 million tons of CO2 when compared with current U.S. energy generation methods.
The first phase of the Cape Station project is scheduled to go online in 2026, with the second phase scheduled to follow in 2028. Image source: Bentley Systems.
Monitoring Assets with Digital Technology
In another less visible, but mission-critical demonstration, Italferr S.p.A. shared how it developed an advanced digital monitoring and defect detection system for a tunnel along Italy’s Terzo Valico dei Giovi railway. The system used digital imagery to help identify cracks, leaks, breaks, and other defects in the Serravalle Tunnel, a 7-km-long tunnel carrying rail traffic between Genoa and Milano. The approach helped Intalferr win the YII award in the Bridges and Tunnels category.
Sarah Fracassi, Italferr BIM Coordinator, explained how the team created a monitoring system that recognizes, localizes, and classifies nonconformities semiautomatically, using a workflow that integrates LiDAR data, digital imagery, and AI-based classification algorithms, where information could be shared in real time. The team incorporated AI algorithms and created a digital twin to automate structural defect detection and enable real-time monitoring in the tunnel.
“[The digitalization process] helped us to solve issues of interoperability and proprietary formats,” she said. “Over time, this allowed us to move from traditional workflows to a fully digital process.”
Traditional inspection methods require laborious, expensive, and sometimes dangerous human efforts, and results can also be subjective. With the digital system, the team was able to reduce inspection times, improve quality of results, lower costs, reduce downtimes in rail operations, and improve safety, according to Fracassi.
The team used Bentley’s iTwin Capture and iTwin Capture Modeler to process survey data converting LiDAR scans to point clouds. They then used OpenRail Designer and OpenTunnel Designer to model the tunnel design configuration. By comparing the digital model and point cloud data with AI-aided algorithms, they were able to identify nonconformities. The team also used Blyncsy for data gathering and analysis, LumenRT for visualization, and ProjectWise for data management.
Italferr S.p.A. shared how it developed an advanced digital monitoring and defect detection system for a tunnel along Italy’s Terzo Valico dei Giovi railway. Image source: Bentley Systems.
More information on the other project award winners and nominees can be found on Bentley’s website. Watch for more here on the inaugural Education and Sustainability awards.
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