Policy paper

National Underground Asset Register: unlocking value for industry and the wider economy

Geospatial Commission publishes the economic case for the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR).

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

Documents

Details

The Geospatial Commission has made an economic case for improvements in access to underground utilities asset data through a more centralised data access model, and carried out research to estimate the scale of the cost savings that could be achieved through creation of a centralised platform. A conservative estimate of the benefits of a national approach to digitalising underground asset data calculates £30 worth of benefits for every £1 invested, which is an extremely high rate of return for any government programme. This calculation has informed the creation of the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) programme.

This report outlines the approach taken to estimate the relevant benefits in order to support other organisations that need to build an investment case for digitalisation and data sharing.

Updates to this page

Published 4 November 2021

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