How Jacobs Used Civil BIM to Improve Data Integrity and Collaboration on the M1/M3 Project

The Challenge

The Pacific Motorway Upgrade: M1/M3/Gateway Merge project was designed to address one of Brisbane’s major transport bottlenecks, improving travel time, reliability and safety for commuters while also helping freight move more efficiently. The intersection of the M1, M3 and Gateway Motorways was carrying around 78,000 vehicles daily, making it Queensland’s highest-trafficked section of road. The project was tendered by the Department of Transport and Main Roads as a design-and-construct contract, with Jacobs delivering the design for Lendlease on a project valued at $190 million.

What made the project especially significant was that Jacobs delivered it as a civil BIM project using 12d Model. The M1/M3 project was Transport and Main Roads’ third BIM pilot project, giving Jacobs an opportunity not only to deliver within a BIM framework, but also to test how those workflows could be carried into more conventional infrastructure projects in future.

That also introduced a challenge. Civil BIM required more detailed design effort to be brought forward earlier in the program, while still working within strict time and budget constraints. Jacobs needed a way to support connected, reliable collaboration without compromising the integrity of its working data.

The Solutions

Jacobs chose 12d Synergy as the working data environment for the M1/M3 project. The platform provided a common data environment that connected project teams and supported the management of live design information across the BIM workflow. Jacobs also developed workflows to transfer deliverables from 12d Synergy into the client environment, with documents published to Transport and Main Roads through Lendlease’s document control process. 12d Synergy’s web drop feature was also used to transfer large files directly from Jacobs’ system into Transport and Main Roads’ 12d Synergy environment.

This gave the team a more controlled way to manage working data while keeping design information inside a single governed system for as long as possible. It also helped demonstrate a model that could be adopted more broadly across Jacobs’ other civil projects.

The Result

• Supported civil BIM delivery on TMR’s third BIM pilot project.
• Improved confidence in data integrity through a stronger single source of truth.
• Enabled flexible working across multiple office locations and from home.
• Allowed Jacobs to draw on a wider design team across Brisbane, Cairns, Hobart and Sydney.
• Established working-data and delivery workflows that could be applied to future conventional projects, not just formally defined BIM projects.

A BIM pilot became a model for broader project delivery

The M1/M3 project was not treated as a one-off digital initiative. Instead, Jacobs used it to develop BIM workflows and processes that could be applied more broadly across conventional infrastructure delivery.

Rather than limiting these ways of working to formally defined BIM projects, Jacobs saw M1/M3 as an opportunity to build a more repeatable approach for future road and transport projects. In doing so, the project showed that the benefits of BIM are not limited to highly complex builds but can also deliver value on more conventional infrastructure programs.

Strengthening data integrity and connected delivery

The clearest benefit Jacobs identified was data integrity. By keeping working data inside 12d Synergy, the team had greater confidence that everyone was using the latest and correct information. This reduced uncertainty around file handling and gave the design team a stronger foundation for connected delivery.

The common data environment also supported coordination across multiple parties. Working data stayed in 12d Synergy, while formal deliverables could still be published through Lendlease’s document control process and transferred onward to Transport and Main Roads when required. That helped connect live design collaboration with formal project delivery requirements.

Enabling flexible work and access to specialist resources

12d Synergy also gave Jacobs’ design team greater flexibility in how and where it worked. Staff could contribute from different offices or from home, helping support work-life balance while also maintaining productivity and reducing burnout.

This flexibility also widened access to specialist capability. Jacobs was able to involve designers from Brisbane, Cairns, Hobart and Sydney on the M1/M3 project, allowing the business to draw on skills regardless of geography. That broader internal resource pool was one of the practical advantages that helped 12d Synergy become the working environment for Jacobs’ wider 12d Model project portfolio.

Positioned for more competitive project delivery

For Jacobs, 12d Synergy supported more than the delivery of a single motorway project. It helped establish a more reliable and repeatable way to manage working data under civil BIM, while also creating workflows that could be carried into future projects.

The result was a stronger foundation for digital engineering across the business — one built on data integrity, flexible collaboration and a common data environment that could support both BIM pilot projects and more conventional infrastructure delivery.