Introducing National Underground Asset Register and its application

Overview

Join us on a presentation of one of the Geospatial Commission’s big projects, the National Underground Assets Register (NUAR) that was launched in 2019.

Holger Kessler, a Geoscience Technical Adviser, introduces the project – NUAR which is about building a secure and trusted digital sharing platform for all the pipes and cables under the ground.

Clive Surmann-Wells from Northumbrian Water Group is an Operational Manager who will give a live demonstration of the prototype platform.

With all these assets and different companies involved working beneath the ground is both complex and inefficient. The estimated economic cost of accidental strikes on underground pipes and cables is £1.2 billion a year. Workers who strike gas pipes and electric cables by mistake can also put themselves and others in danger of death or serious injury. These are just two of the reasons why the Geospatial Commission launched the National Underground Assets Register Pilots, to make it easier to find out what exactly is beneath the ground.

One pilot was led by the Greater London Authority in London and the other was led by the Ordnance Survey in the North East of England. Here the pilot built on a strong stakeholder group which formed following the Northumbria Water Group Innovation Festival in 2018 involving all major Utilities, Highways Authorities and several Local Authorities.

The talk will not only bring out the technical challenges and solutions to secure data sharing but also stress the need for strong engaged and trusted user communities who ultimately will be the enablers and beneficiaries of NUAR.