Guidance

National Underground Asset Register minimum viable product

Updated 23 November 2023

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

NUAR minimum viable product (MVP)

As set out in our 2022-23 Annual Plan and in line with the Government Service Standard, the Geospatial Commission is committed to iterative delivery where users are placed at the centre of product and service design and are given access to core functionality early and often to help ensure the service best meets user needs and expectations. This commitment began with the release of the NUAR minimum viable product (MVP), which gives the first cohort of users access to the emerging platform as part of an exciting stage of development and service refinement.

The initial version of the NUAR MVP covering North East England, Wales and London went live in April 2023 with coverage expanded to the West and East Midlands in August 2023. The remainder of England went live in November 2023.

The MVP includes all core functionality to meet the ‘safe dig’ use case, as well as ancillary features, such as the ability for end users to report ‘observations’, allowing users to both plan for future adoption and provide valuable feedback to enhance the service further. It includes data from all of the major energy and water providers, such as Welsh Water, Cadent Gas and UK Power Networks, several major telecommunications companies, including CityFibre and Virgin Media O2, as well as smaller providers of these services, transport organisations and local authorities.

The NUAR service will be iteratively enhanced in line with user feedback. The MVP coverage will be expanded to Northern Ireland by spring 2024, and the platform will be fully operational by the end of 2025.

Accessing the MVP

The MVP is currently accessible to asset owners who operate in England and Wales and have signed the NUAR Data Distribution Agreement (DDA) and agreed a Data Ingestion Specification (DIS), and those authorised street works contractors working on behalf of these asset owners. Access to the data is granted in accordance with the agreed use cases and legally enforceable data access agreements. All access is subject to protective monitoring.

Access to the platform is by invitation only (based upon the above criteria). The NUAR administration portal allows designated administrators within asset owner organisations to invite and manage their direct users (constrained by email domain) and to manage the supply chain organisations who work on their behalf. Initially these administrators are our current primary points of contact, but asset owners are able to determine within their organisation who they would like to be their administrator going forward - it is possible for these to change, and many organisations will have multiple administrators who will be able to set up standard users.

MVP key features

The NUAR MVP is a secure platform with comprehensive production security controls in place to ensure that data is protected while allowing appropriate role-based access to data required to work safely.

Functionality includes an interactive map, so that each asset and site displayed can be selected and queried to view detailed attribute information (such as voltage level/pressure tier, but also, if available information such as depth, quality level, location type etc). It also includes an ‘Isolated View’ such that a single asset owner’s assets can be viewed in isolation. This is also the case for Work Pack PDF exports, with a ‘page per asset owner’ available which provides opportunities for further enhancements based on feedback, such as more specialised symbology and colours going forward.

The platform also allows assets and sites to be flagged as ‘sensitive’ and to have ‘enhanced measures’ attached to them (e.g. additional guidance, or contact/permission requirements). Development of features (in conjunction with the asset owner community) to allow variable proximities to be applied to enhanced measures based on the type of work being undertaken or the type/role of user or organisation is also planned. The assignment of a ‘sensitive’ status, enhanced measures and proximity remains in the hands of the asset owner providing their data to the platform.

The NUAR platform logs all requests, including the User ID, and includes the list of asset owner IDs whose assets and sites are included in the Area of Interest. The delivery team are also logging where an ‘Intention to Dig’ enquiry is submitted, leading to production of a PDF Work Pack. Asset owners will have access to usage reports via the administration portal. We are also working with our asset owner community to refine and extend the Management Information (MI) content available beyond the MVP release.

The MVP provides general messaging about the role and limitations of NUAR (and statutory records generally) within the context of the HSG47 guidance. This includes the assumption that not all assets and asset owners will be present. Where an Asset Owner, and their coverage area, is known to NUAR, this organisation’s details are included in an Asset Owner list accessible from the map. In line with HSG47, information about the currency and reliability of plans in general, and the requirements to carry out ground investigation and safe digging practices, is also displayed.

Details of features are provided in training materials or by contacting your organisation’s NUAR Champion.

Using the MVP

The MVP is not a final end product, it is a key stage in the design and development of NUAR involving real users as part of an interactive learning process to refine functionality and processes in preparation for business use.

The MVP release can be used in business as usual practices, however, it is intended to complement rather than replace them and will allow users to both plan for future adoption and provide valuable feedback to enhance the service further.

We also encourage users to be mindful that (as with existing practices around statutory records) NUAR will never replace requirements for ground investigation and safe digging practices as outlined in HSG47.

MVP continuous improvement

From MVP launch until NUAR is fully operational, development of new features, and refinement of existing ones, will continue (informed and supported by our asset owner community). Additional asset owner datasets will be added in the live MVP areas, as well as improvements to data currency.

We will also be expanding the coverage of the service to include Northern Ireland by spring 2024, and permitting larger numbers of use to access the service in eligible organisations. 

Organisations signed up to NUAR

Users signed into NUAR can see a list of organisations who have assets in their area of interest, or who operate in the vicinity. Information about data refresh rates can be accessed by clicking on features to see when they were last loaded into the platform.

Whilst there are asset owners from across the entirety of England, Wales and Northern Ireland signed up and sharing data with NUAR, only data from those asset owners based in England and Wales are displayed in the MVP. Asset data from Northern Ireland will be accessible from spring 2024.

Signing up to NUAR

If you work for a utility, telecommunications company or transport / local authority in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, you can reach out to the team in the following ways: 

• If your organisation is not fully signed up to NUAR yet, contact our onboarding team by completing our asset owner onboarding form
• If your organisation is fully signed up to NUAR, you can email our Service Desk with any questions.

For asset owners in Northern Ireland who have fully signed up for NUAR we will be rolling the service out in spring 2024.

As set out in our response to the public consultation we held in 2022, 75% of respondents stated it could be beneficial to expand the permitted use cases for NUAR beyond statutory undertaking, which would allow access to other user groups. We are now exploring these opportunities. If you would like to share your thoughts, please contact our Service Desk.