What’s new in Bentley’s Next Generation Synchro+?

• 3 November 2025
• Construction Focus
• 1520 Views

Bentley Systems, a global leader in infrastructure engineering software, has launched a significant evolution of its 4D virtual construction management solution, upgrading SYNCHRO 4D to SYNCHRO+.

This next-generation software features deep integration of AI capabilities and geospatial modeling from Cesium, enabling all project stakeholders—from engineers to investors—to virtually build and plan massive, complex infrastructure developments long before ground is ever broken.

SYNCHRO is a powerful 4D construction solution. It combines a detailed 3D design model with the project schedule (the 4th dimension being time) to create a precise, time-phased simulation of the entire construction process.

This virtual rehearsal is crucial for risk reduction, enabling construction firms to identify and prevent costly errors before they occur in the field, resulting in documented savings of hundreds of millions of dollars while also improving sustainability.

David Ayeni, Bentley’s Construction Product Strategy Director, explains the core value: “SYNCHRO enables designers and construction professionals to virtually plan an infrastructure asset.” He emphasizes the profound risk mitigation involved: “It derisks the whole construction project. I like to say you build it twice—once virtually and once physically.”

The upgrade to SYNCHRO+ makes the software significantly more accessible and impactful. It features an AI-powered, data-centric construction application that leverages Cesium for detailed geospatial context, allowing for deeper and more intuitive exploration of construction sequences. (Read more)

The key improvement of this version is its democratization: making the application simpler and accessible to all stakeholders, not just specialized engineers.

The new, construction-context-trained AI acts as a “digital secretary,” allowing users to command the application easily and intuitively. This focus on simplifying software usage allows construction professionals to dedicate more time to their core engineering and planning tasks.

Furthermore, the integration of geospatial data from Cesium allows users to visualize their project on a real-world site model, which is invaluable for communicating complex plans to stakeholders and investors. Seamless cloud connectivity ensures that every piece of project data is linked, mitigating miscommunication across teams.

SYNCHRO is already utilized in some of the world’s most ambitious engineering efforts, including the kilometer-tall Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia, the ITER fusion reactor in France, and the U.K.’s high-speed rail line, HS2.

This advanced capability is also perfectly suited for massive upcoming projects, such as the construction of the colossal Abilene data center in Texas. The site will span over 4 million square feet—roughly the size of 70 football fields—and include eight buildings designed to house up to 50,000 Nvidia AI chips. (Read more)

In June, Bentley held a SYNCHRO+ hackathon in London where engineers, developers, and designers came together to share hands-on user experiences and provide feedback for product improvement.

• Bentley Systems
• Synchro
• Synchro 4D