MINAS GERAIS, Belo Horizonte, Brazil: July 7, 2025 – AtkinsRéalis, a world-class engineering services and nuclear company with offices around the world, has earned second place in the prestigious “Best in Design” category at the 2025 Hexagon Elite Awards. The recognition celebrates the company’s groundbreaking integration of digital innovation in the redesign of a mining plant in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
“Our clients are at the heart of everything we do. By harnessing the power of digital technology and data-driven insights, we help them access critical minerals more efficiently, sustainably and safely,” said Cesar Inostroza, CEO, Minerals & Metals. “This recognition reflects our commitment to delivering innovative, future-ready solutions that empower our clients to lead in a rapidly evolving industry. Congratulations to our team for bringing this vision to life.”
Integration of Digital Technology
Leveraging cutting-edge Hexagon technologies—including Smart P&ID, Smart Electrical, Smart Instrumentation, and Smart3D—AtkinsRéalis developed a fully integrated virtual model for the brownfield site. This intelligent model bridged the gap between design and construction, enabling seamless collaboration and a significant reduction in execution time. The integration of physical and digital environments provided real-time knowledge and facilitated the work from design through to construction and into operation. The project also incorporated virtual and augmented reality to enhance coordination between design and field teams.
“One of our biggest challenges was ensuring full integration with the existing plant,” said Cristiane Alvarenga, Digital Engineering Lead, AtkinsRéalis in Brazil. “Hexagon’s tools allowed us to create a robust database and implement the Building Information Modeling methodology, improving interdisciplinary communication and ensuring that all aspects of the project were optimized. This enabled us to lead change by promoting a culture of continuous improvement.”
This accolade builds on AtkinsRéalis’ 2023 first place win in the Sustainability category, where the company’s use of Hexagon tools unified all engineering disciplines into a single digital ecosystem—optimizing performance from design through to operations and maintenance.
About AtkinsRéalis
Created by the integration of long-standing organizations dating back to 1911, AtkinsRéalis is a world-class engineering services and nuclear company dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. We create sustainable solutions that connect people, data and technology to transform the world's infrastructure and energy systems. We deploy global capabilities locally to our clients and deliver unique end-to-end services across the whole life cycle of an asset including consulting, advisory & environmental services, intelligent networks & cybersecurity, design & engineering, procurement, project & construction management, operations & maintenance, decommissioning and capital. The breadth and depth of our capabilities are delivered to clients in strategic sectors such as Engineering Services, Nuclear and Capital. News and information are available at www.atkinsrealis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
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