Energy Assets wins government grant to digitise underground utility asset data

We have won grant funding from the Government’s Geospatial Commission to digitise their underground power and gas assets. We are one of two organisations operating in Greater London to have received funding, which is being distributed and managed by the Greater London Authority (GLA).

The funding will enable us to vectorise and digitally share the position of their electricity cables and gas pipes across London’s boroughs. This data will help speed up residential and commercial development, reduce the risk of accidental pipe and cable strikes, and minimise the disruption to communities and traffic caused by new or emergency infrastructure works.

The geospatial survey and data capture project will create a highly accurate digital map of the companies’ underground utility assets across the capital and will feed into the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) being built by the Geospatial Commission for the UK.

“As an independent distribution network operator and an independent gas transporter, we work closely with contractors building out residential and commercial developments,” said Andrew Collin, Network Manager.

“One of the biggest challenges our customers face is identifying the precise location of existing infrastructure, so this new digitized and shared asset register will provide the detail they need to plan and install utility networks much more efficiently. This resource will also help minimise the disruption to communities caused by emergency repair work or the laying of additional infrastructure by pinpointing existing pipes and cables within a range of a few centimetres.”

The grant funding, won in a competitive bid process, will support the vectorisation of our existing assets by specialist partner Graitec and the provision of geospatial technology and training by MGISS.

Once we have completed the vectorisation work across the London boroughs, the businesses aim to extend the work to map their utility assets across the rest of Britain – and then adopt a ‘Vector First’ approach by capturing geospatial data as assets are built out.

Nigel Clifford, Deputy Chair of the Geospatial Commission commented:
“Unlocking value from geospatial data is the heart of the UK’s Geospatial Strategy. Our National Underground Asset Register will be a momentous step towards providing the UK with a shared national data asset of significant value. I am proud of the collaboration with industry that we have so far established as part of our preparatory work and look forward to it continuing.”