Challenge
Alpha Construction is a civil engineering and building contractor based in Derbyshire. Among its specialisms are projects across the UK related to energy and substation infrastructure, as well as flood defences and water infrastructure. Alpha Construction’s work regularly involves high-risk excavation environments, particularly around high-voltage substations or when carrying out roadworks excavations.
Like many contractors, Alpha Construction relies on traditional tools and asset records to plan excavation works. However the company has frequently had to use incomplete or outdated utility records, meaning that unknown underground assets are sometimes discovered during excavations. Not only does this increase the risk of striking live assets, but it also pauses work while investigations take place. There are difficulties identifying who owns these assets, and valuable time is wasted trying to obtain asset information from multiple sources before work can start up again.
In Walsall, a team working on a flood defence at a substation encountered an active telecoms cable when carrying out safe digging practices. The cable was not shown on any drawings and had no identifiable owner.
Similarly at a National Grid site in Northampton, a team discovered an unknown electrical service which had no existing records and posed a potential clash with construction activities.
Solution
Alpha Construction had been introduced to the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) during a presentation at an industry event. NUAR is a government digital service, operated by Ordnance Survey (OS), that provides instant access to a secure and standardised map of underground pipes and cables in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Designed to improve the efficiency of the way buried infrastructure is installed, maintained, operated and repaired, NUAR provides secure access to data for over 370 asset owners from the public and private sector. It brings together details on 80% of all known underground infrastructure into a single, centralised platform, in a standardised format and style, to augment existing safe digging practices.
In Walsall, the team obtained access to NUAR. The platform quickly helped them identify the cable’s asset owner and confirm its relevance to the excavation, allowing work to proceed safely and confidently. Additionally other critical assets such as an 18-inch sewer line, various telecoms services, and buried services affected by tree-lined areas, none of which showed up on existing plans, were identified in NUAR at the same time, vastly improving the visibility of the underground environment that Alpha Construction was working in.
In Northampton, the team used NUAR to identify asset type and understand its size, route and connections. This meant they could avoid the asset safely and minimise disruption and risk. They were also able to share knowledge of the previously unknown asset with their clients immediately.
Result
NUAR is now embedded in Alpha Construction’s operational processes and incorporated into its permit documentation. It is shared with site teams to visualise underground assets before digging and used alongside existing safety practices to enhance decision-making on site.
By adopting NUAR, Alpha Construction has reduced the risk of its workforce striking assets, and improved their site safety in high-risk excavation environments. It has led to faster identification of asset owners, greater confidence in planning and executing works, reduced delays from unknown or missing data, and better collaboration with clients and asset owners.
"During our flood defence construction works at a substation in Walsall, an active, uncharted telecoms cable was discovered as a result of safe digging practices being utilised close to the proposed line of the new flood wall. No telecoms supplier could confirm ownership of this cable, meaning works couldn’t proceed in that area. We gained access to NUAR following a presentation at an industry event, and a search on the NUAR portal was conducted thereafter. Subsequently, the owner of the cable was identified, allowing our works to continue safely. NUAR has helped our client considerably, as traditional routes of investigation would have taken much longer, resulting in delays to the project completion."