National Underground Asset Register targets safe digging for all

The National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) is targeting safe digging for all, after revealing plans for its expansion.

NUAR is an interactive digital map of underground pipes and cables that is designed to improve safe digging and end accidental strikes. It now covers more than 80% of known buried assets in England, Wales and Northern Ireland following the upload of data from Openreach.

NUAR is owned by Geospatial: Government Digital Service (GDS), formerly the Geospatial Commission, and is run by Ordnance Survey (OS). GDS’s latest announcement about NUAR follows last summer’s consultation into the initial tranche of the platform’s regulations. GDS received 103 responses, including from councils, devolved governments, utilities, contractors, trade bodies and professionals.

GDS will issue a final response to the consultation once regulations are finalised, so it can provide clarity around final legislative frameworks.

The highlight of GDS’s latest update is the launch of a notification of works function. Asset owners can already provide detailed guidance and targeted instructions to users of NUAR, but notification of works functionality goes further.

First, it notifies an asset owner, or a third-party service provider nominated to act on their behalf, when an enquiry is made near their assets. Notification of works reports provide information to asset owners about when their data has been accessed. In the admin portal, reports can be created to summarise who has accessed the asset owner’s data and when. This reporting capability will be further refined, based on requirements.

Second, the outbound notification of works capability is being rolled out in two phases. The first phase is live and includes a new enquiry function, initially in a test environment, that allows users to contact asset owners about planned works. Asset owners can invoke plant protection or risk assessment actions and get in touch with the enquirer to advise them on appropriate safe digging procedures, particularly for highly sensitive assets.

Asset owners can receive these notifications in near-real-time, or choose to redirect enquiries to a nominated third-party service provider for processing. Initially, these notifications will be accessible through an API. The API will be scalable to large amounts of notifications and requires integration into an asset owner’s IT infrastructure. A human-accessible interface is planned for future implementation.

The second phase will see the further roll-out of the outbound notification’s capability to more asset owners, including their nominated service providers.

“This will enable asset owners to carry out risk assessments and provide targeted guidance on safe working practices where needed, and ensures that those existing processes are still followed,” said Mehul Doshi, head of strategy for NUAR at GDS. “This approach will support sustainable integration into a broad and diverse ecosystem made up of many asset owners, stakeholders, and service providers, providing flexibility and room for growth and improvement.”

Doshi added: “We are looking at securely expanding access to the NUAR service to ensure that anyone who requires information has access to an appropriate level of information to support safe digging for all.”

This will be done in a “phased manner, prioritising the areas of greatest benefit to safe excavation”.  A public consultation on proposals is planned for this spring, with secondary legislation required to enable expansion of access. 

The proposed expansions may include allowing access to:

Any extension of access will be developed in close cooperation with security stakeholders to ensure robust safeguards are in place. OS will lead the design and development of enhanced services and functionality to accommodate diverse user needs while maintaining strong security standards. 

Regulations for extending access are proposed to be fully implemented by April 2028.