MD3074 National Underground Asset Register – London region

1.1    Infrastructure data and innovation is an established and successful area of work at the GLA, and the importance of improving the capital’s infrastructure is recognised in the Economic Recovery Framework endorsed by the London Recovery Board. In support of this, the Infrastructure Team is responsible for delivering two digital projects that are both fully externally funded: the London region of NUAR and the London Infrastructure Mapping Application (IMA). Both projects gather and organise data from infrastructure providers (utilities providers, transport providers, digital connectivity providers and the Environment Agency) to achieve numerous benefits for Londoners. 
1.2    The GLA Infrastructure Team has worked with the Government’s Geospatial Commission since May 2019 to deliver the London pilot of NUAR. Building on the success of the pilot, the Geospatial Commission has since moved forward with its plans to establish a national digital platform holding data on underground pipes and cables, to increase efficiency and safety when digging onsite. The GLA has remained involved throughout the three phases of work:
•    a £1m pilot phase approved by MD2469 (May 2019 - March 2020) to test the viability of gathering underground asset data, delivered across six London local authorities
•    a £1.4m preparation phase approved by MD2564 (April 2020 - September 2021) to bring together data into a prototype platform, delivered across 12 London local authorities
•    a £340k Build Phase Minimum Viable Product (MVP) approved by MD2876 (October 2021 - March 2023) to prepare all asset owners in London to launch a MVP platform, delivered across all 33 London local authorities.
1.3    Over four million holes are dug in the UK each year, too many in the wrong place. Unforeseen ground conditions are a major obstacle to all construction and housing projects, especially on previously developed land. NUAR is required because underground asset owners (including infrastructure providers and boroughs) across London have limited visibility of one another’s asset type and location. Information is often contained in formats that make digital sharing difficult and inefficient. This lack of information-sharing can, at worst, lead to injury and loss of life through utility strikes (a worker accidentally hitting an underground utility asset). It also causes delays for providers and can incur additional costs for local authorities as infrastructure providers undertake numerous ‘test digs’ to ascertain the location of an asset. Local authorities and the GLA likewise lack visibility of this asset information, making coordination, improved infrastructure planning and delivery more difficult and expensive. 
1.4    The Geospatial Commission has estimated that the economic cost of accidental strikes on underground pipes and cables is £2.4bn per year. One cause is inaccurate information on the location of buried assets. Unforeseen strikes cause delay to works, cost to business and customers and health and safety risks for workers. In a congested city like London with regular construction and street works, the problem is acute. Once operational, NUAR is expected to deliver £347m per year in benefits by avoiding accidental asset strikes, improving the efficiency of works and better data sharing. It will also create other benefits such as reducing the costs of projects and supporting infrastructure projects like new roads, new houses, broadband/5G and electric vehicle charge point roll-out.
Build phase NUAR rollout: April 2023 – September 2024
1.5    The Geospatial Commission, in partnership with the GLA, is on track to launch a MVP NUAR in March 2023, for which the GLA is planning a launch event in London. The Geospatial Commission has requested that the GLA continues the existing partnership to support NUAR’s evolution from a MVP to a fully operational platform, and will continue to fully fund the required GLA team through a further grant. 
1.6    NUAR is now in the build phase, which lasts three years. This has been split into two sections: 
•    The first 18 months (September 2021 - March 2023) focussed on establishing an MVP in three regions: London, the North East of England and Wales. The GLA’s role focused on onboarding all 60 asset owners in the London region.
•    The second 18 months (April 2023 - September 2024) will focus on embedding NUAR once the MVP is launched and preparing for an operational, national system. The GLA’s role will focus on establishing a sustainable data refresh process with asset owners, embedding NUAR’s use into regular business processes, agreeing a long-term costing model and a policy for additional use cases.
1.7    The GLA was funded for the first 18 months of the build phase and it was anticipated that the Geospatial Commission would request its continued engagement for the second 18 months. The Geospatial Commission has now proposed to award up to £225,000 of grant funding for the GLA to continue to support the Geospatial Commission and their appointed supplier to embed NUAR in the London region. This MD requests receipt of this grant-funding and the expenditure of the funding to help support delivery of NUAR in the London region. 
1.8    The GLA has played an instrumental role in getting NUAR to this point. The success of the London pilot and a similar trial in the North East of England led the Cabinet Office to formally launch – with the endorsement of the Mayor’s London Infrastructure Group (LIG) – a pilot of the underground asset register in 2019. Since then, working with the Geospatial Commission and their supplier, the GLA has led on the delivery of the pilot, preparation and build phases in London. 
1.9    NUAR’s progress would not have been possible without the support of London’s underground asset owner community. The benefits of NUAR have been clear to them from the start and this type of platform has been wanted within the community for decades. From the NUAR pilot in 2019 to today, the GLA has not lost a single asset owner in London which demonstrates the effectiveness of its engagement with the London community and that the community can see the benefits that NUAR will have for them once live. The GLA leads engagement with 60 asset owners – including all 33 of London’s local authorities, and all major utilities and transport providers (such as TfL and HS2) in London .
1.10    The Geospatial Commission recognises the GLA’s extensive work during the pilot, preparation and MVP phases to create buy-in among 60 asset owners. It recognises the unique role that the GLA can play in the successful delivery of the NUAR platform, and how it can support the supplier to deliver the best result for London, including: 
•    the established relationships with all London partners and the trust those partners have built in sharing data with the GLA
•    the ability to escalate issues to the Mayor’s London Infrastructure Group, which includes CEO-level representatives of all the major utilities providers
•    the technical knowledge and expertise it has developed in transforming millions of asset records for London’s partners
•    the holistic view of infrastructure data in London, through its work on the Infrastructure Mapping Application, Planning London Datahub and other infrastructure digital projects 
•    the considerable learning built up over more than three years delivering the pilot in London, which can be shared with new regions as the national register scales up.
1.11    Remaining involved in the next phase of NUAR would allow the GLA to complete the final step of launching NUAR operationally in London. The GLA has led delivery in London from when it was a pilot and has built relationships spanning years with London’s asset owner community. The final phase of NUAR will focus on establishing sustainable processes so NUAR can become embedded and used widely. It will also allow the GLA to remain at the forefront of innovation, demonstrating its commitment to data-sharing and digital transformation in a sector where this can be challenging. 
1.12    The Mayor’s London Infrastructure Group – comprising CEO-level representatives from London’s leading infrastructure providers, regulators, government, and industry organisations – supports the project, and member organisations have already shared data to prepare for the MVP platform. 
The next phase
1.13    Receipt of the next phase of funding is subject to the GLA signing a grant agreement with the Cabinet Office, which will be approved under the General Delegation/Signatory Permission by the Assistant Director for Connectivity, Air Quality, Transport and Infrastructure. 
1.14    Over the pilot, preparation, and MVP phases, the GLA has gathered evidence of the demand for additional use cases from London’s asset owner community. The next phase of work will allow the GLA and the government to investigate how these additional use cases can be added securely and legally to NUAR. These use cases include:
•    local authority planning – for example identification of areas suitable for sustainable urban drainage schemes (SuDS), tree planting, EV charge point rollout  
•    developer advice – to facilitate coordinated gas, water and electricity connections, and any other activity that requires excavation, and supporting delivery of housing
•    resilience planning – to identify infrastructure interdependencies and capacity challenges as well as proactively plan around constraints
•    improved coordination – to support infrastructure coordination.
1.15    The GLA’s work will focus on the London region. The breakdown of expenditure will be £195,000 on staffing (including the corporate support charge), £15,000 on programme budget (expenses, licences and technical architecture) and the remainder as contingency. The GLA will take on three main workstreams in the next phase, all of which will be delivered alongside the Geospatial Commission and the supplier:
•    Asset owner engagement and onboarding: by March 2023 the GLA should have onboarded all 60 asset owners in London to the MVP platform, by signing a legal agreement confirming their ongoing participation. There will be continual engagement required to maintain the relationships we have built and support asset owners to fully adopt NUAR, embed it into existing business processes and cascade its use to their contractor community. The GLA will continue managing quarterly user groups for the London community.  
•    Data transformation and ingestion: While all asset owners should have provided some data to the MVP by its launch in March 2023, it is unlikely that they will have provided their complete datasets. The GLA will continue to liaise with asset owners to ensure full data acquisition and support them with making data refreshes systematic, which could include establishing automated data sharing processes. The GLA will continue to advise on options to deliver a sustainable and scalable transformation  platform so that this can become business as usual, allowing data from disparate sources to feed smoothly into the platform.
•    Preparation for a national system: The GLA will offer strategic advice to help government prepare for the operational launch of NUAR. This includes acting as an ambassador for the national rollout and sharing the benefits of the London experience; advising on the value of adding new use cases for user uptake and the implications on existing practices and the data ask; advising on options for making the system interoperable and future-proof including the potential need for legislation; and considering options for cost recovery. 
 

2.1    NUAR supports the London Recovery Programme by minimising road network disruption and is also expected to reduce infrastructure project delivery issues and related costs. Utility strike avoidance and onsite efficiency will mean fewer delays and road closures while excavating on London roads. This work ties into the Mayor’s Infrastructure Coordination Service (ICS), which improves how infrastructure is planned and delivered in London.
2.2    Once the NUAR MVP is launched in March 2023 it will improve the efficiency and safety of underground works by creating a secure, auditable, trusted and sustainable platform containing buried asset data. This platform will be accessible to all data providers, the GLA, and those planning and executing excavations on behalf of underground asset owners. The GLA will work with this community in the next phase of work to use NUAR and establish sustainable processes for its ongoing maintenance. Its main beneficiaries will be:
•    Excavators: who will benefit from having a comprehensive picture of what they will encounter when they dig, making their work safer and more efficient and reducing the risk of accidental asset strikes. 
•    Londoners: who will experience less disruption to London’s streets because excavators will be less likely to encounter unexpected assets underground which can cause delays and extended road closures to resolve.  
•    Asset owners (utilities, local authorities): who will benefit through greater efficiencies in sharing data, as well as from enhanced communication between parties and improved data quality. Utilities and local authorities will be able to collaborate more effectively because they will all be working from the same platform and data will be incrementally improved through a feedback mechanism from site.
•    Back-office planners: who will benefit as NUAR will reduce the long delays between requesting and receiving underground asset data from other utilities since they will be able to search and find information instantaneously on NUAR.
2.3    Having a central digital map of underground pipes and cables will also help make infrastructure and housing delivery in London more efficient. It will create numerous indirect benefits such as improving air quality and promoting healthier streets by reducing congestion on the roads; and it will help to prevent costly delays associated with poor infrastructure planning on development sites. As part of the wider decarbonisation agenda, NUAR will support utilities providers to upgrade and invest in their networks efficiently. See section 4.3 for how it links to Mayoral policies. 
 

3.1    Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, the Mayor and GLA are subject to the public sector equality duty and must have due regard to the need to: eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation; advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not; and foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not.
3.2    The “protected characteristics” are age, disability, gender re-assignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and marriage/ civil partnership status. The duty involves having appropriate regard to these matters as they apply in the circumstances, including having regard to the need to: remove or minimise any disadvantage suffered by those who share or is connected to a protected characteristic; take steps to meet the different needs of such people; encourage them to participate in public life or in any other activity where their participation is disproportionately low. This can involve treating people with a protected characteristic more favourably than those without one.
3.3    The benefits of NUAR will have direct and indirect positive impacts for all Londoners, including those with protected characteristics. Most directly it will protect construction workers who are out on site, as accidentally striking a gas pipe can put a worker at risk of serious injury or even death. While the construction industry has a range of occupational profiles and some jobs are highly skilled and well-paid, the sector is volatile and still employs a considerable proportion of its workforce in mid-to-low skilled jobs. These workers are those most directly impacted by poor asset maps and take the highest risk when on site. Having a digital map of underground assets should help workers dig safely without striking an underground buried asset. 
3.4    Infrastructure and development works often negatively affect accessibility of roads and the public realm, having a negative impact on several groups with protected characteristics. Through making infrastructure works more efficient, NUAR will reduce road network disruption and indirectly improve accessibility. Reduced disruption on the roads will also create benefits like reducing noise and improving air quality, which are particular issues in neighbourhoods with the most vulnerable residents. 
3.5    Unforeseen ground conditions are a major obstacle to all construction and housing projects, and particularly affect dense urban areas like those found in London. A digital map of underground pipes and cables will help improve efficiencies in construction and development and will support the government’s and Mayor’s efforts to build back better and greener. This will help Londoners, including groups with protected characteristics, to get the housing and infrastructure they need. 
3.6    The GLA convenes the Infrastructure Advisory Panel and Young Professional’s Panel to advise on our work. Both panels bring together a diverse range of leaders in the infrastructure sector to contribute to, challenge and inform the infrastructure team’s work programme. This ensures the GLA’s contributions to NUAR are informed by diverse perspectives. The wider Infrastructure Team also delivers school outreach and reciprocal mentoring programmes aimed to improve EDI in the infrastructure sector—making use of NUAR expertise and relationships to do so.
3.7    In line with the GLA’s recruitment and selection policy, for any NUAR posts that require recruitment in future we will welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, disability, gender re-assignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and marriage/ civil partnership status.
 

Hiring and procurement
4.1    Given most asset owners in London will have been onboarded by MVP launch, the requirement for the GLA team will reduce from three full-time equivalent (FTE) posts to 1.5 FTEs for the next phase of work. In practice the work will be undertaken across three posts, comprising one FTE working full-time on NUAR, and two FTEs splitting their time 25 per cent on NUAR and 75 per cent on the Infrastructure Coordination Service’s Infrastructure Mapping Application (another externally funded digital map that is managed by the Infrastructure team). One post (0.25 FTE on NUAR) is permanent and the other two posts are fixed-term. The two employees with fixed-term contracts have contracts in place which run until Summer 2023. The next phase of NUAR would require extending the fixed-term post for the officer working full-time on NUAR to September 2024, an extension of 15 months. The other fixed-term post working 25 per cent on NUAR will be managed through a separate decisions process related to the Infrastructure Coordination Service, since it is primarily an ICS role. Relevant approvals have been followed for the GLA’s Establishment Control procedures.
4.2    The Geospatial Commission’s supplier will provide most of the external expertise. However, the GLA may require some additional external support to deliver the above NUAR workstreams and there will be a contingency budget from the Geospatial Commission for this. Any services required (for example, technical expertise to support data transformation and integration, as well as data modelling refinement) will be procured in accordance with the Contracts and Funding Code. 
Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities
4.3    The below table captures links to the London Recovery Programme along with Mayoral strategies:

Key risks and issues
4.4    The following key risks have been identified for the London region of NUAR:

5.2    Approval is being sought for the receipt and expenditure of up to £225,000 of grant funding from the Geospatial Commission for the next phase of the London based National Underground Asset Register Programme (NUAR).
5.3    This next phase is expected to commence in April 2023 and finish by September 2024 thus spanning two financial years. Most of the funds will be spent on internal staffing (£195,000) as the Authority will continue to directly manage the programme, with the balance covering expenses and contingency (£30,000). The indicative profile of this can be seen below:

5.4    The GLA will incur the expenditure first and reclaim retrospectively thus officers will retain appropriate evidential documentation and ensure all costs are in line with the Geospatial Commissions funding agreement.
5.5    If approved the total expenditure on the NUAR programme will be £2.965m.
5.6    This income and expenditure will be contained within the Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity Unit 2023-24 and draft indicative 2024-25 budgets.
 

6.1    The GLA’s receipt of funds and participation in the NUAR pilot was approved by the Mayor under cover of MD2469; and the GLA’s participation in the NUAR preparation phase was approved by the Mayor under MD2564; and the MVP under MD2876. Authority is now sought to continue and expand upon the work already done to deliver a national roll-out. The GLA has wide powers under section 30 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (GLA Act) to promote economic development and wealth creation, promote social development, and promote the improvement of the environment, all in Greater London. These powers are sufficiently broad to cover the proposed use of funds to continue GLA involvement in NUAR for a further period. The report explains how the GLA’s continued involvement will further the GLA’s principal powers in Greater London.
6.2    There are restrictions under section 31 of the GLA Act on the GLA incurring expenditure on doing anything which may be done by Transport for London (TfL). There continues to be some potential overlap between this project and activities within TfL’s powers, and/or within (for example) the powers of TfL’s subsidiary company London Underground Limited (LUL), in respect of assets in highways under TfL’s control as highway or traffic authority, and underground railway assets operated by LUL. To the extent that anything proposed in this decision might be done by TfL, under section 31(6) of the GLA Act the restrictions imposed by section 31 do not prevent the GLA cooperating with, or facilitating or coordinating the activities of, TfL, or any other public body.
6.3    In taking the decisions requested, the Mayor must have due regard to the PSED under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010; that is, the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010 and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, sex, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it. To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.
6.4    The Mayor can approve the receipt of the government’s Geospatial Commission funding in principle. However, this will be subject to an appropriate GLA officer approving the terms of the funding and seeking further legal advice where necessary. 
6.5    Once the terms of the funding are understood, the appropriate GLA officer must ensure that they are content that the GLA can comply with any conditions to which the funding is subject; and also must take into account the role of the functional bodies in enabling compliance. In any event no reliance should be placed upon such funding until there is a legally binding commitment from the government’s Geospatial Commission to provide the same. 
6.6    Any services, products or external expertise required by the GLA to help support the next phases of the projects must be procured by TfL Procurement, who will determine the detail of the procurement strategy to be adopted in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code.
6.7    Officers must ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place and executed by the successful bidder(s) and the GLA before the commencement of the services.
6.8    Officers have indicated that one fixed-term post will need extending by 15 months to help deliver the next phase of NUAR. Under the GLA Act (as amended), the Head of Paid Service (HoPS) may, after consultation with the Mayor and the Assembly and having regard to the resources available and priorities of the Authority:
•    appoint such staff as the HoPS considers necessary for the proper discharge of the functions of the Authority (section 67(2))
•    make such appointments on such terms and conditions as the HoPS thinks fit (section 70(2)).
6.9    Therefore, should this expenditure be approved, the matter should be referred to the HoPS in order that the HoPS may consider extending the fixed-term posts referred to above.
 

7.1    A detailed project plan will be agreed with the Geospatial Commission in advance of the MVP launch. The GLA has established London user groups and will continue running these quarterly throughout the eighteen-month extension. The user group consists of representatives from each external participating organisation/company to support delivery, including representatives from the Geospatial Commission. 
7.2    This project will be overseen corporately by the Assistant Director for Connectivity, Air Quality, Transport and Infrastructure. The Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and Skills and the Chief Digital Officer will also provide direction. Officers will regularly update key stakeholders, including the Mayor’s London Infrastructure Group and the Geospatial Commission. 
7.3    The below table provides an indicative timeline of the next phase of work: