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A year has passed since Ordnance Survey (OS) took responsibility for the Government-backed National Underground Asset Register (NUAR), which is a “secure” digital map of underground UK pipes and cables (broadband, water etc.) that is partly designed to help reduce accidental damage. Some 400 asset owners (e.g. Openreach and others) have now added added data to show their infrastructure, but that’s not all.
The government continues to see huge potential for NUAR’s mapping to help improve the way that national infrastructure is planned, built and managed (e.g. future full fibre and 5G/6G mobile networks). Previous claims suggested that the map could help to cut the amount of accidental damage that occurs to existing infrastructure (estimated by some studies to cost up to £2.4bn each year) and boost economic growth by “at least £400m” per year due to increased efficiency, fewer asset strikes and reduced disruptions.
However, the effectiveness of the NUAR means little without the full backing of major infrastructure builders, which is why it’s so important that more than 400 asset owners – across both the public and private sectors – have already joined and begun sharing data to show the location of their underground infrastructure.