Underground asset map launches in three regions

A pan-utilities underground asset map for the entire country takes a step closer to becoming a reality today, as it launches in three areas.

More than 70 asset owners in London, the North East and Wales will have access to the first iteration of the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) from Wednesday (5 April). This includes energy firms, water companies, telecommunications specialists, transport operators and local authorities.

The NUAR has been four years in the making after being established by the Geospatial Commission – part of the Cabinet Office – in 2019. The idea for the project was first developed at Northumbrian Water’s Innovation Festival in 2018. The project intends to provide a centralised database for underground asset data in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland currently has a separate platform which covers assets specifically related to the road network.

The data-sharing platform aims to benefit the design and planning of infrastructure projects where data must be sourced on buried assets, such as cables, pipes and sewers.

It is also expected to dramatically reduce the number of underground asset strikes across the country. There is around 4 million km of buried pipes and cables in the UK, and a hole is dug every seven seconds to install, fix, maintain or repair these assets. Consequently, there are approximately 60,000 accidental asset strikes each year costing around £2.4 billion to fix.

Wales & West Utilities asset strategy manager Ian Dunstan told Utility Week that the biggest immediate benefit will be when carrying out unplanned work or emergency repairs.

“If you know what know what you’re facing under the ground, you can try and deal with that in a much more planned way up front so that that’s the big plus for us,” Dunstan said. “We’re hoping eventually that all of our operatives will be able to use this tool. Most of them have work phones or iPads and if they could have access to this data at their fingertips while out there in the field that would be brilliant.

“We do a fair bit of emergency work, probably fixing about 14,000 leaks a year. Some of those leaks happen in the middle of the night when you haven’t got the luxury of back office support so being able to have access to an underground map in those situations is going to be enormously beneficial to have a bit more certainty about what is beneath the ground.”

Wales & West Utilities will be one of the first asset owners given access to the platform. Dunstan stressed that while the map provides a level of certainty about what is underground, safe digging practices will always need to be as stringent as they currently are.

“You’re never going to be able to rely solely on a map and safe digging practices will always tell you that, no matter how advanced the map is,” Dunstan said. “NUAR doesn’t replace the activities you do on site to try and identify plant and equipment under the ground. But the benefits of this is you should be much more informed on what you can expect under it which certainly helps massively reduce the risk of striking something.”

There are approximately 650 different owners of underground assets across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Getting them to share their data has been the task of engineering consultancy Atkins who was awarded a £23 million contract to design and develop the NUAR platform in 2021. (A separate tender to operate the platform is expected to come to market ahead of the final launch date.)

Atkins project director for NUAR Guy Ledger said that some asset owners had concerns about data sharing and security. However, he added: “We’ve been able to reassure them [asset owners] that all of the security concerns have been thought of and measures are in place to keep their data secure.

“Once we have got that through to them and explained it then all the asset owners have been overwhelmingly positive about the programme because they can see that there are significant benefits for them.”

Dunstan agrees that any nervousness around data sharing that existed a few years ago is no longer such a big issue in the industry.

“This is something we’ve wanted for years,” Dunstan said. “However there has definitely been a cultural shift and where data sharing was previously seen as bad, data sharing is now seen as a good thing, and that’s what allows this to work now.”

He added: “We’ve been talking for 25 years about having a common map and never quite achieved it. The concept of having everything you’re going to find in the ground at your fingertips is something that has been around for a long while. Some places have tried it before and not quite got there. But NUAR is nearly there, it is easy to use and now I think it is the perfect timing.”

Despite the openness to share data, NUAR’s head of strategy within the Geospatial Commission Heath Pritchard told Utility Week that government is considering introducing legislation which would make it mandatory for asset owners to provide and update their NUAR datasets at regular intervals. During a consultation on the proposals, about 70% of asset owners said that legislative powers would be needed to ensure there were no gaps in the data.

“There was quite a strong view that legislative reform would be needed to ensure that all asset owners participate,” Pritchard added.

The programme has thus far been government funded. Who pays for it once it is up and running remains up for debate. However, following the consultation, Pritchard said that he expects those that will benefit from using the system – ultimately asset owners – to eventually contribute to keep the platform running.

He added: “It’s good for them. It’s good for the business, it’s good for the sector. We are just working out how to make the best economic case.”

If all goes well in the three testbed areas then the full project will be rolled out in its entirety in October 2024.