Utility Week

32 | FEBRUARY 2022 | UTILITY WEEK Analysis Underground intelligence A government-backed project – NUAR – aims to compile a comprehensive cross-sector data-sharing register of underground assets, and utilities will be a major part of it. T o date, 35 underground asset owners have signed up to the National Under- ground Asset Register (NUAR). But, with approximately 650 different owners of underground assets across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, there is clearly more work to be done for the project to deliver a comprehensive data platform. Launched in 2019 by the Geospatial Com- mission – which is part of the Cabinet Office – the project aims to provide a centralised database for underground asset data across the UK, bar Scotland which has a separate platform covering assets specifically related to the road network (see below). As NUAR garners more engagement, the data-sharing platform is intended to benefit the design and planning of infrastructure projects where data must be sourced on bur- ied assets, such as cables, pipes and sewers. Currently, project teams are o•en tasked with engaging disparate organisations to request access to their asset information. Asset owners are hugely diverse, rang- ing from rural local authorities and regional utilities to national telecoms companies and transport agencies. And, all too o•en, the information they provide is of varying qual- ity and presented in different formats. Guy Ledger, divisional digital director at Atkins and NUAR programme director, describes the complex process for acquiring data as "time consuming and inefficient", which can lead to project delays and cost overruns. Reducing accidental utility strikes and the level of disruption and delays caused to asset owners and local communities is a significant challenge, but eliminating the potential risk to safety is also critical. Complex challenge The sheer number of asset owners and the lack of uniformity across organisations in terms of the way data is collected and stored makes the current landscape particularly complex. "That complexity leads to inefficiency, but it can also lead to risk," says Ledger. The NUAR project aims to resolve this issue by engaging with underground asset owners to subscribe them to the register so that the location of their assets will eventu- ally be viewable through the new platform. Access to this data will be granted solely to

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