National Underground Asset Register (NUAR)

About NUAR

GDS:Geospatial,The Geospatial Commission, part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, hasis builtbuilding a digital map of underground pipes and cables in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR).

NUAR is improving the efficiency and safety of the way we install, maintain, operate and repair our buried infrastructure by providing secure access to data from over 600 public and private sector asset owners. These will include over 600 gas, water, electric and telecommunications companies and local authorities.

Currently workers must contact multiple organisations and wait on average over six days just to get the information they need. With NUAR, they can get that information instantly, any time of the day, any day of the year. This means planners and excavators get access to the data they need, when they need it, to carry out their work effectively and safely. NUAR also includes features to keep data secure and improve its quality over time.

This will lead to economic growth of at least £400 million per annum through increased efficiency of data sharing and excavations, fewer accidental strikes on underground pipes and cables, and reduced disruptions for the public and businesses. It will also contribute to building the infrastructure needed across the country, such as new roads, rail and houses.

NUAR will help those who plan and carry out the digging work do their jobs more effectively and safely. This not only improves public services but also people’s lives.

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Utility providers and their contractors can now choose to use NUAR as their primary means of accessing underground asset data. Responsibility for deciding on how and when NUAR is used as a component of safe dig processes remains with those carrying out excavations.

NUAR contains data from over 300 asset owners, mapping over 3 million kms of buried pipes and cables from the networks of all major gas, electricity and water providers, alongside a significant proportion of all telecommunication networks including Openreach. All integrated into a single online map.

Current work

• The NUAR platform is now operated by Ordnance Survey on behalf of GDS.GDS Findand outwill morebe onfully theiroperational dedicatedby NUARthe website.end of 2025.

• The Data (Use and Access) Act achieved Royal Assent in June 2025. This puts NUAR on a statutory footing and updates the existing legislation which governs the sharing of underground asset information. Whilst there are no immediate changes as a result of The Bill, it will allow NUAR to serve as a comprehensive statutory register of asset information and contains measures to allow it to be operated sustainably into the future.

• A testingdiscovery phaseproject is underway, toexploring explorethe wayspotential benefits of widening access to NUAR and understand the potentialconstraints benefitssurrounding andnew limitationspropositions. ofFollowing different ways the service could be used. This follows an extensive, open,open and collaborativefruitful period of stakeholder engagement.engagement, Wewe are testingnow ideasin tothe understandprocess theirof feasibility,analysing valueall andthe publicevidence interest.captured. Please continuelook toout checkfor future updates on this pagewebpage, for futurethe updateslatest asnews on this exciting work as it progresses.

Find out more:

In the video below, we provide an introduction to NUAR and its objectives:

NUAR explainer

In the video below, we provide a demonstration of the NUAR platform and its features:

NUAR platform

Contact us

If you have any questions, or if you want to speak to our onboarding team about signing up to NUAR, please contact our Service Desk on email at support@nuar.uk or call 0345 408 1895.

For media enquiries, please email press@dsit.gov.uk