SPECIAL FEATURE


drain TRADER


The world beneath our feet


Accidental strikes on themyriad of underground pipes and cables in theUK cost the economy £1.2 billion a year. Workerswho strike gas pipes and electric cables bymistake put themselves and others in danger of death or serious injury. Butwith no belowground basemap to put utility companies on the same pagewhen it comes to digging safely, the risk of asset strikes, project delays and disruption to the public remains high. It’s the reason theGeospatial Commission, an expert committee formed to optimise theUK government’s use of location data, is doing something about it. In collaborationwithOrdnance Survey (OS), and theGreater London Authority (GLA), it is developing a pilotNationalUndergroundAsset Register (NUAR). This neutral platformwill pull in government and private data on the whereabouts of theUK’s cables, pipes, sewers and ducts to build a standardised digitalmap of assets under the ground. Users can then access the easy-to-use systemvia handheld devices in the field. In 2019 theGeospatial Commission announced a 12-month pilot scheme to test howaNUAR could be designed andmanaged. The commission chose two locations for the £2.4million pilot – London and theNorth East.TheNorth EastUndergroundAsset Register (NEUAR)was overseen byOS.The LondonUnderground Asset Register (LUAR)was overseen byGLA. OS’s strategic propositionsmanager, Carsten Roensdorf,worked on theNorth East trial. He said:“The situation in Britain is there has been a lot of complicated underground asset networks built in this country in the last 100 plus years. “While network operators have information aboutwhere these assets


48 drain TRADER | August 2020 | www.draintraderltd.com


are, there are gaps in the data. “More importantly, there is no central place for all this information to come together to serve use cases such as safe digging. “For example, before commencing an excavation, you need to have access to all the records fromall the suppliers or asset owners of a particular area, to informyou about the risk ofwhat youmight find if you dig a hole.”


Benefits


The benefits of an underground assets registerwould have a far- reaching impact on the utilities industry. Aswell as helping users dig safelywithout striking a buried asset, it would helpworkers orientate themselves on sitemuch easier, assist withmore accurate and comprehensive planning to avoid delays, and allowasset owners to send and respond to data requestswithout having tomaintain their own data response systems. Carsten said:“What is really exciting forme is thatwe tried to approach solving a problemwhich has not been achieved before in England.Andwemanaged to create a community inwhichwe collaborated to solve the problem. “It has been rewarding to see the reaction of people in the field, even guyswho have been sceptical of newtechnologies are seeing the benefits and are asking 'can I have this formy day job tomorrow?'"


Challenges


The trial proved a collaborativemindset and trust between all organisations involved, and thewillingness to share data, is amust to make it a success. Therewere three key challenges to overcome.On a cultural level, a legal level and a technical level.


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