Legislating for publicly funded projects to share their geotechnical data is critical for reducing cost and risk. And it removes a long‑standing structural barrier to efficient development which will enable the economic growth that depends on delivering projects on time and on budget.
There is now a groundswell of opinion from industry that legislation is required for ground investigation data sharing that will also complement the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR). It would not only provide a richer understanding of what lies underground, but also of the condition of the ground itself.
Every infrastructure or development project faces the unavoidable unknown of the ground beneath it. As engineers, planners and decision‑makers, we accept that uncertainty comes with the territory. But much of the risk we routinely face from ground conditions is not necessarily inevitable and exists because we haven’t unlocked the data we, as an industry, already hold.
A persistent and costly problem
Vicky Corcoran, associate engineering geologist at AtkinsRéalis and chair of the AGS Digital Transformation of Ground Data Working Group
Ground risk is one of the most consistent causes of programme delay, cost overrun and dispute in construction and infrastructure. Despite decades of technical advancement, unforeseen ground conditions remain a leading reason for claims and redesign. Around 30% of transport and linear infrastructure projects were historically delayed due to ground conditions. More recent analysis from the British Geological Survey (BGS) suggests it may now be in the range of 20% to 60%.
The BGS also estimates that around £1.2bn is spent annually on ground investigation in the UK, and it is estimated that approximately 10% of project costs are lost each year to delays and overspend linked directly to unforeseen ground conditions. That is money which is not being spent on delivery, innovation or growth and it is loss that the sector largely accepts as unavoidable.
Dark data beneath our feet
The UK already has a national repository of ground investigation data through the BGS and around 1.3 million borehole records are publicly available, providing the baseline for desk studies across the industry. Yet every year, an estimated half a million new boreholes are drilled and only a fraction of that data ever makes its way into the national record.
Data ownership is often unclear in contracts, responsibilities for submission are ambiguous, and best‑practice guidance such as the Construction Playbook is inconsistently applied. As a result, vast amounts of valuable ground data remain locked away in private archives, inaccessible to those who could learn from it.
This “dark data” represents a lost opportunity and not just for better engineering, but for better decision‑making at every stage of development.
Why legislation is necessary
Existing guidance encourages data sharing, but encouragement alone has not been enough. Mike Reader MP proposed legislation in the previous Parliamentary session which focussed on ground investigation data from publicly funded projects. It does not seek to capture privately funded project data, nor does it aim to reduce the need for future ground investigations, but instead it provides clarity.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to progress that bill in the last parliamentary session but it placed geotechnical data sharing on the political agenda, galvanised cross-industry support, and signalled to government that the sector is ready for change.
Legislation matters because clear legal requirements cut through uncertainty around data ownership, intellectual property, timing and responsibility. They give confidence to clients, contractors and designers alike that sharing data is part of delivering public infrastructure.
This matters because clarity early in a project reduces risk later on and better baseline information leads to more targeted investigations, more robust design assumptions, and fewer surprises once construction begins.
Growth depends on certainty
Holger Kessler, senior stakeholder manager in Growth Markets at AtkinsRéalis
Economic growth follows successful delivery as projects that proceed smoothly through planning, design and construction are more attractive to investors and easier for decision‑makers to approve. Conversely, projects characterised by uncertainty and delay slow down both physical development and economic momentum.
Ground investigations sit right at the start of the delivery chain. When uncertainty emerges here, it cascades through planning, procurement and construction. By making better information available earlier, ground data sharing supports faster, more informed decisions, particularly for planners, funders and policymakers who are not subsurface specialists but must still assess risk. This smoother progression from concept to construction is a significant enabler of growth.
Complementing NUAR: completing the picture
NUAR has already demonstrated the value of coordinated underground data. By bringing together information on buried assets such as pipes, cables and utilities, it has improved safety, reduced disruption and increased confidence in excavation.
But that is only part of the story as assets do not exist in isolation, they sit within geological conditions that affect how they can be installed, maintained and ultimately replaced. Ground data sharing legislation fills this gap by making information on soil, rock, groundwater and hazards available alongside asset data.
Together, NUAR and shared ground investigation data provide a far more complete understanding of the subsurface, both in terms of what is there, and what condition it is in. This integrated view supports better asset management, more resilient design and more sustainable development.
More data, better investigation
Legislation is not about reducing the amount of ground investigation or about cutting corners. Historical data cannot replace project‑specific testing, and different projects require different levels of investigation.
What shared data does is enable a greater understanding of the ground risk earlier, which allows investigations to be better targeted, and resources to be spent where they add the most value with the result being better and more sustainable engineering.
There are also longer‑term benefits as a national, secure repository of ground data supports innovation in digital engineering, modelling and analysis. As we increasingly rely on data‑driven tools from advanced ground models to new AI applications, the quality and breadth of the underlying data becomes critical.
Building with knowledge
The case for ground data sharing legislation is straightforward. It reduces risk, improves efficiency, and supports growth by enabling better decisions earlier. It complements NUAR by completing our understanding of the subsurface, and it builds on systems and standards the industry already uses.
If we want to build faster, better, more sustainably and unlock the growth that infrastructure makes possible, then sharing what we already know about the ground beneath us is the foundation that supports that ambition.
Find out more about the work of the cross-industry working group on the Digital Transformation of Ground Data