Sogelink, a European leader in construction tech and underground infrastructure solutions, has announced a collaboration with the UK government’s National Underground Asset Register (NUAR). NUAR is a landmark initiative aiming to centralise and standardise access to underground asset data across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Driven by the Geospatial Team in the Government Digital Service, the NUAR programme seeks to reduce the risks, costs, and delays linked to the estimated four million excavation projects carried out annually in the UK. By creating a unified digital map of buried utilities, NUAR will significantly enhance safety, co-ordination, and efficiency in underground infrastructure works. It involves collaboration between public and private sector organisations, including a team at AtkinsRealis which delivered the Build phase of NUAR.
The UK government anticipates that £30 of benefits will accrue from every £1 invested in a national approach to digitalising underground asset data. It has forecast that the total monetised benefit of the NUAR programme will be £3.4 billion over 10 years.
Building on European Success Stories
Countries like the Netherlands and France have already adopted national strategies to reduce excavation damage through digital co-ordination. In the Netherlands, the WIBON law enforces the registration of underground infrastructure, supported by the Klic platform, developed by Sogelink, which now handles over 600,000 CBYD requests annually. In France, DICT.fr, also operated by Sogelink, serves as the country’s leading platform for managing regulatory declarations before digging (DICT), helping prevent accidents and improving accountability on worksites.
These proven models combine centralised legal frameworks with user-friendly digital tools – an approach Sogelink is now bringing to the UK.
Fatima Berral, CEO of Sogelink, stated: “We are honoured to support the NUAR initiative, which echoes the success of the Dutch model. At Sogelink, we believe in scalable, pragmatic innovation — combining legal frameworks, proven technologies, and deep cooperation between public and private stakeholders to make underground construction safer, smarter, and more sustainable.”
From Vision to Reality: Operational Experience in the Field
Over the past few months, Sogelink has worked closely with AtkinsRealis, the British Geological Survey, and key data providers, including Cyclomedia, Thames Water, and UK Power Networks to build a London-based demonstrator showcasing how future underground works could be conducted more safely and efficiently.
Using the Aldgate tube station environment as a pilot site, this demonstrator combines:
• Utility data structured in MUDDI format (the foundation of NUAR)
• Geological and geotechnical insights
• High-quality terrain, street-level and building data
• Sogelink’s proven visualisation app for cables and pipes, enriched with augmented reality capabilities, advanced revision workflows, and datasets on contaminated soils
The project shows how underground works could be designed, planned and executed more efficiently. The result has been a seamless collaboration between office and field teams, with secure, tiered access to a centralised database of underground assets — a practical preview of what NUAR could deliver at scale.
Holger Kessler, Senior Stakeholder Manager at AtkinsRéalis, said: “I am delighted to see this demonstrator being published, a true cross-sector and multinational collaboration showing what is possible when subsurface information is made accessible and interoperable. I hope it inspires more innovative minds and further encourages more data sharing in the sector to help increase safety and reduce delays in construction.”
Peter van Dijk, Head of Product Development & Innovation at Sogelink, added: “The NUAR vision is bold and necessary. The Dutch and French experiences have shown that it takes more than technology — it requires governance, compliance, and a culture of collaboration. We’re excited to help bring this ecosystem mindset to the UK.”
Supporting the Next Steps
With the UK recently passed, NUAR is moving from a proof of concept to operational implementation — and of course, challenges remain. Sogelink stands ready to support the UK in addressing these questions, drawing from two decades of experience across Europe in building legal, technical, and operational frameworks for excavation safety.
