Bespoke services for a National Service Provider

Project Overview

A major national service organisation issued a tender for provision of utility search reports and utility mapping for its ongoing street furniture upgrade programme.

The client cited the utility information aspects of its street furniture programme as very administration-heavy and was looking to significantly reduce costs. Their existing approach was considered unwieldy as field staff found the utility information difficult to access and interpret, this made it difficult to determine the appropriate safe excavation method. The client was impressed with the comprehensive Premier search report and the way the PALM 128 utility map presented complex utility information in a simple and user-friendly format.

To support their street furniture programme Premier Energy developed a bespoke ordering and reporting solution that incorporated our Premier Report and PALM 128 map. The key to this was an approach that met the requirements of PAS 128 and HSG47, but only presented back to the field staff relevant utility information for the work zone.

Premier Energy’s Process

• Bespoke on-line ordering service: To access and order services a bespoke online ordering service was developed and introduced. This allowed users to draw their work area and place an online order for the contracted services in less than 2 minutes. To keep things simple and easy the contract users were only presented with services relevant to their needs, as opposed to a long list of irrelevant options.
• Premier Utility Search Report: This search report is PAS 128 Quality level D compliant and also meets the requirements of HSG47 Avoiding danger from underground services. Every search report covers a user-defined area and results in a significant amount of information being returned from utility companies (e.g. asset records, map keys, safety information etc). Whilst it is important for compliance to conduct comprehensive searches, this can result in information overload for field staff if everything received is presented back to the user. Premier Energy therefore developed a consolidated field pack showing only the record information from affected utilities who had apparatus in the work area. This reduced the report size by 60% whilst ensuring compliance to PAS 128 and HSG47.
• PALM 128: As part of the bespoke ordering solution the Premier Energy team developed a density map which identified areas nationally where utility infrastructure is known to be significant. In these situations a PALM 128 was automatically added to the order. The PALM 128 utility map is a consolidated PDF drawing of the existing utilities based on asset records on a mastermap background. The multi-layered interactive map helped field staff build a detailed understanding of the utility assets, as they could toggle between single views (e.g. electricity network only) or multiple utilities (e.g. all services) via their handheld devices.
• CDM Risk Assessment Report: When a site was identified as having specific utility safety constraints, for example the proximity of major gas infrastructure, Premier Energy would produce a CDM Risk Assessment Report on the existing utilities which formed an important part of developing a safe system of work. The report identified and commented on the risks associated with existing utility infrastructure on a site or work zone, and allowed the user to develop risk mitigation strategies.

How we helped our Client

Our approach to the ordering and provision of utility search reports reduced the administration burden by over 50% for our client, giving teams more time to focus on planning works for complex sites. Also, our bespoke ordering solution has improved the customer experience, making it more efficient to place orders.

The ability to identify utility density areas automatically as part of the ordering process has saved significant time and money, by ensuring the consolidated mapping is only produced in locations where it can add value. This has provided a cost saving measured in the £10,000s per annum.

The consolidated field pack also helped the user to access and interpret the complex utility information, making the groundworks process simpler and safer. Premier Energy has received positive feedback on the structure and usability of the new concise reports from the client’s field staff.

Learn more about the Premier Report

Learn more about the PALM 128

Learn more about the CDM Risk Assessment Report and our Consultancy Services

Get in touch to talk to a member of our specialist team for a bespoke fee, or order the Premier Report and PALM 128 now using our online mapping tool.