Desktop Utility Search | Advice

The Utilities Report is intended to be for project planning and feasibility only. It is not suitable to be used for construction or excavation purposes. The existence of utilities on the plans does not imply that they are suitable in size, capacity, type or location for the project purpose. The Utility Companies should be contacted directly for clarification in this regard.

Compilation of the Utilities Report

The Utilities Report is a compilation of Utility Company record plans. These are obtained via application to the Utility Companies following a geographic search to determine which Companies are in a given area. The data is provided by the Utility Companies in a variety of formats including faxed plans, pdf files, digital drawing files and paper drawings. They are all converted to pdf files for inclusion in the report. The quality of the plans therefore varies. A quality assured process is followed for each report. This requires that it is checked at different stages during the process before being subjected to a final assessment prior to issue.

Limitations and Accuracy of the data

Each Utility Company has its own disclaimer statement in respect of the information they provide. They do not guarantee or provide a warranty for the data. The Utility Company disclaimers should be referred to when considering the accuracy and completeness of the data. Generally the plans provided are for guidance only and are not guaranteed to be up to date or to be a complete record of the Utility Company plant in a given area.
Some Utility Companies only show main utilities. Therefore service pipes or cables may not be shown on the plans but they may be present on the site.

Some Utility Companies state that the utilities may deviate from the route and position shown on the plans. Due to the time delay between installation of, or repair or upgrading of utilities and the subsequent updating of the Utility Companies plans, it should be noted that there could be utilities present that are not shown on the plans.
The exact position of the utilities should be verified by the use of suitable detecting devices and safe digging practices in accordance with HS(G)47. Further advice on the location of the utilities should be requested from the owner.

Completeness

Whilst every effort is made to locate all Utility Companies in a given area, due to the sensitive or restrictive nature of certain sites, the existence of redundant utilities, the emergence of new companies and the combining of, takeover or sale of existing Companies, we cannot guarantee to provide details on all utilities in a given area.

Date

Due to the Utility Companies plans being regularly changed and updated, the Utility Report is only valid at the time of production.