One year after Ordnance Survey (OS) started mapping the UK’s underground infrastructure, more than 400 asset owners have added their data, joining over 70% of UK local authorities and 90% of all highway authorities.
Among those now signed up are all seven electricity distribution network operators, meaning that the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) now maps more than 3.2 million kilometres of buried pipework and cables.
This digital map currently covers more than 80% of all known infrastructure held across both the public and private sectors.
Government calculations estimate around 60,000 accidental strikes to buried assets each year.
NUAR say their ambition is to cut the disruption and danger that comes with excavation and in turn, unlock economic benefits of at least £400 million a year through better access to the assets’ information.
OS’s Chief Product Officer, Ash Wheeler, said: “The growing number of asset owners contributing data and using the platform, alongside supply chain contractors accessing it on their behalf to deliver projects, is a huge step forward.
“Collaboration is key, and the more users in the underground telecommunications and utilities sectors who engage with the platform, alongside existing safe dig practices, the more it will make life safer for people excavating under the ground.”
The next phase of government policy is to establish NUAR as a comprehensive statutory register, ensuring underground asset information is recorded and maintained consistently across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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