About NUAR

Learn more about the National Underground Asset Register

How to access NUAR

Access to the NUAR service is currently for Telecommunication, Energy, Pipeline, Water, Transport, Local and Highways Authority asset owners who operate underground infrastructure in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland, and the authorised construction contractors working on behalf of these asset owners to install, maintain, operate and repair buried infrastructure.

  • For asset owners, please contact us to register your interest. Once your data is loaded into the platform your designated administrator can invite and manage your companies’ users and the construction contractor organisations who work on your behalf.
  • For construction contractors, please contact us and advise which asset owner on whose behalf you are working. We will then assist the process of the asset owner inviting you to the NUAR platform. Once you have received, completed, and submitted the registration form, your designated administrator will be given access and can invite and manage your companies' users. Your asset owner can then link a job to you, enabling you to access the specified data.

Help to get started

Once you are on the platform, there is written and video how to content available on the help page and we host a series of regular webinars to help get you started. If you would like further assistance or require tailored training for your organisation, our adoption team are on hand to assist you.

Sign in to the NUAR portal

How NUAR complements the existing safe excavation ecosystem

  • NUAR is a new and comprehensive register of asset data, here to complement and enhance existing practises. The implementation of this means that, for the first time, there will be a single authoritative source of data about the underground pipes and cables in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland in an online map. Through its user interface, NUAR can dramatically streamline the ability for authorised users to enable safer and more efficient street works.
  • NUAR does this by providing real time access to integrated underground utility record data from over 330 asset owners to support undertakers in site orientation, planning utility excavations as well as access to this data in the field.
  • We are enabling proactive notifications of work to asset owners who want to be contacted about work taking place in the vicinity of certain, critical assets. Asset owners may receive notifications directly or via a service provider they can designate.
  • NUAR only provides access to utility record data and users should maintain existing Safe Excavation practices as specified in industry guidance and company policies and additionally follow all instructions for necessary asset owner engagement, where flagged on the NUAR platform. This is to reduce the risk of harm to workers and damage to underground assets. Read more on our FAQ page.
  • We remain committed to ensuring that NUAR delivers value for the users it serves, and we will continue to engage with stakeholders interested in integrating with NUAR to provide services that rely on the information held in NUAR, where these align with our security and access models.

NUAR Security Features

NUAR has been developed in collaboration with National Protective Security Agency (formerly CPNI Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure), National Cyber Security Centre, and Asset Owners’ security teams.

It operates an Information Security Management System (ISMS) based on the recommendations of ISO27001:2022, including risk management, business continuity, incident management, access control, and a wide suite of security controls to protect the data and wider platform.

There is role-based access control in place across the whole platform to ensure that users can only perform the actions they are allowed to for their job.

NUAR Product Roadmap

NUAR functionality continues to evolve and improve, guided by stakeholder requirements and aligned with government service standards.

View Roadmap (PDF)

NUAR timeline

2018
NUAR Research phase started by Geospatial Commission (now Government Digital Service)
Sept 2021
NUAR build programme starts
April 2023
Platform MVP operational in limited areas
April 2024
Platform MVP operational in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Oct 2024
Ordnance Survey appointed operator of NUAR
June 2025
Platform moved from MVP to Public Beta. Data (Use and Access) Act achieved Royal Assent
Aug 2025
GDS launched consultation for secondary legislation
End 2025
Platform operational with Notification of Works capability being rolled out

OS’s role in NUAR

In October 2024, Ordnance Survey was appointed by the UK Government as the operator of NUAR, responsible for the day-to-day running of the service.

Read more on Gov.uk

Useful information