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Welcome to our monthly update on The National Underground Asset Register (NUAR), an interactive digital map of underground pipes and cables from the Geospatial Commission. It gives planners and excavators standardised access to the data they need, when they need it, to carry out their work effectively and safely. You can find out more on GOV.UK.
NUAR is live across England and Wales
Hopefully, you saw the big news last month - the NUAR minimum viable product (MVP) is now live across England and Wales; we have started to seek updates to existing legislation; and we have launched an exciting new discovery project, to explore the potential of widening access to NUAR. You can find out more about these announcements in our latest project update.
We celebrated with a webinar attended by over 270 stakeholders; and a fantastic ‘One Team Day’ last week, bringing together all six organisations working to deliver NUAR, including the Geospatial Commission, AtkinsRéalis, Ordnance Survey, 1Spatial, GeoPlace and the Greater London Authority. We were also joined at our Team Day by a panel of NUAR users from both asset owner organisations and suppliers, to hear about their experiences of adopting NUAR.
But we could not have done it without our asset owners
Ultimately, it is data from underground asset owners that brings NUAR to life. So, we want to thank all the asset owners that have signed up and shared data on the platform, which includes all of the major gas, water and electricity companies across England and Wales, as well as Virgin Media O2, City Fibre and a growing number of local and highway authorities.
- Here are some kind words from just a few of them:
“As a works promoter with a national footprint, we are delighted with the news…marking a significant contribution towards a standard and consistent process for sharing of safe digging data” - Nigel Myers, Senior Statutory and Streetworks Manager, Virgin Media O2 - “We are delighted with the news that the MVP is now expanding across the country sooner than planned, marking a significant step towards a smarter and more resilient future” - Heidi Mottram, Chief Executive Officer, Northumbrian Water
- “I am also pleased that legislative reform is now at the forefront of the thinking and the potential for this being a more inclusive data set with wider community access should be applauded” - David Capon, Co-Chair, HAUC (UK)
Support our NUAR discovery work
As we have recently announced, the Geospatial Commission has launched an exciting new discovery project to explore the potential for increased economic growth by widening access to NUAR.
Opportunities could include:
● making NUAR data available to other user groups (such as surveyors and land owners)
● allowing it to be used for other defined purposes (such as electric vehicle charge point rollout, flood risk planning and emergency response)
This project will help inform the evidence base for future decisions, with opportunities only taken forward where they are feasible, of value and have the support of asset owners and our national security communities.
So, if you have any ideas you would like us to explore, or would like to participate in a series of collaborative workshops in the New Year, please email the team. You can also email us with any questions you have about the process.
Get onboard
If you work for an underground asset owner that operates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, that you don’t think is fully signed up to NUAR yet, contact our onboarding team by completing our asset owner onboarding form.
If you’re a contractor working on behalf of an asset owner, please contact them to see if they can provide you access.