How NUAR is helping make buried infrastructure safer to manage

Managing the UK's underground infrastructure is a complex challenge. With more than four million kilometres of buried pipes and cables owned by over 600 organisations, those responsible for installing, maintaining and repairing essential services need accurate information to work safely and efficiently.

The National Underground Asset Register (NUAR), a government digital service operated by Ordnance Survey, is helping to address this challenge by providing authorised users with instant access to a secure, standardised map of underground assets across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. By bringing together data from hundreds of asset owners into a standardised service, NUAR helps users gain a clearer understanding of what lies beneath the ground before work begins.

This improved visibility supports better planning, early risk assessment and safer decision-making. It also helps tackle a significant industry challenge, with around 60,000 accidental strikes on underground assets occurring every year, costing an estimated £2.4 billion and creating risks for workers, communities and infrastructure projects.

Today, NUAR contains around 80% of known underground asset data and continues to expand. The service complements existing safe digging practices, including HSG47 guidance, by providing an additional layer of trusted location intelligence to support site reconnaissance and project planning.

Adoption is increasing across utilities, telecommunications, transport and local government sectors. Organisations are already reporting significant efficiency gains, with Southern Gas Networks reducing activities that previously took days to complete down to minutes during planning and risk assessment processes. Lincolnshire County Council has also identified the potential for substantial time savings, while Northumbrian Water Group has highlighted the benefits of a more unified approach to safe digging.

NUAR is continuing to evolve in response to user needs. Recent enhancements include the Linear Tool, which enables users to assess underground assets along planned routes, and new notification capabilities designed to improve communication between asset owners and those carrying out works.

As more organisations adopt the service and additional functionality is introduced, NUAR is becoming an increasingly important tool for safer, more efficient infrastructure management. By helping users understand what lies underground before they dig, NUAR is reducing risk, improving efficiency and supporting the delivery of critical infrastructure projects across the UK.

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