Underground Infrastructure CDS | OGC

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BSI PAS 256:
Buried Assets – Capturing, Recording,
Maintaining and Sharing of Location
Information and Data – A Code of Practice
Les Guest
Institution of Civil Engineers

Why Develop the Publicly Available
Specification (PAS) ?
 The quality, accuracy and reliability of asset owners’
records are variable,
 Limited established industry standards to which buried
asset owners are required to adhere to,
 Confusion and delays for those needing the information
to be able to work safely, and higher risk of asset strikes
causing:
– safety risks to the public;
– higher costs to the project, customers, general public, local businesses,
etc.;

– delays to the project, customers, general public, local businesses, etc.;
and
– risks of environmental damage.
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Why develop PAS 256?
 There have been relatively few attempts
to improve the quality of records over time
1914

2014

3D
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Why develop the PAS?
Street Works (Records) (England) Regulations 2002

These Regulations set out the way in which utilities and
others are expected to keep records about the location

of pipes, wires and other apparatus in the street.

“This is an area where it would be best for
industry to set standards, rather than
government. Encouraging progress is already
being made by the street works sector on a
non-regulatory basis, and we will look to revoke
unnecessary regulations”.
Norman Baker, Minister
DfT Red Tape Challenge – Road Transportation 15/12/11

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Aims of PAS256
 Builds on existing legislation, PAS128 and
HSG47
 Drives towards improved accuracy and
starts to facilitate electronic sharing
 Improves linkage between critical
infrastructure assets and other initiatives

for digital built Britain (e.g. Smart Cities,
BIM)
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Content of the PAS
Data
Information Exchange
Locational Accuracy
Number of days to make information
available
 Requirements for different asset
owners
 Unidentified Buried Objects and
Wrongly Marked Objects
 Safety and Protection






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Unidentified Buried Objects (UBO)
and Wrongly Recorded Objects (WRO)
 Guidance when discovering a
UBO or WRO
 A Process
 A template for notification

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Why bother reporting UBOs and
WROs

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What next?
 The PAS may be tested by some
organizations, although some, such as
Heathrow are considerably further developed

 Encourages organizations to embrace the
change now and start to include in new
contracts
 A recognized transition as technology
becomes more convenient and cost effective
 There will be a review after 2 years
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London Proof of Concept Trial

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National Underground Assets Group
Proof of Concept

 “All information on underground assets,
and appropriate associated above ground
assets, will be shared between
stakeholders in a consistent way, on
demand”


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NUAG NRS Ltd – Customer Advisory Group
London Implementation

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Identification of Asset Owners with an
interest at this location

Asset owners with plant at this location
Gas

National Grid Gas

&Box.NUAG.UK.ngrid.com

Electricity UK Power Networks &Box.Ukpowernetworks.co.uk
Water


Thames Water

Comms

Openreach

Comms

Virgin Media

Comms

Fibrespan

&Box.Thameswater.com
www.openreach.co.uk/enquiries
www.digdat.co.uk/enquiries
&Box,fibrespan.com


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Email Notification of New Enquiry

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ThankYou

Les Guest
Les@lesguestassociates.co.uk

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