Internationally renowned subsurface civil engineering firm calls for ASCE 38-02 UK equivalent

TBE (UK) Limited is calling for change within the UK underground utility mapping industry in order to raise standards and client expectations by adopting a similar strategy to the U.S. Unlike the U.K., all engineers and project owners in North America use and understand the same utility mapping and detection process, known as subsurface utility engineering (SUE). More importantly, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) through its guidelines standard, the ASCE 38-02, provides a National Consensus to this process procedure.

Speaking of the current situation in the U.K., Nick Zembillas, Vice President of the TBE Group and Principal of the Utilities Division explained:

“With no responsibility taken by utility mapping firms and no standard guidelines to adhere to in the UK, civil engineers utilising these surveys are being kept in the dark. Accepting the unacceptable in this respect seems rather unusual; especially when the construction industry has to comply to many rules, regulations and quality standards to deem the rest of a project satisfactory.”

“By launching SUE in the UK we want to demonstrate that utility mapping and detection can be clear, concise and accurate; and even though ASCE 38-02 isn’t a UK standard, if we follow its key principles, the industry will see its fundamental benefits.”

The ASCE 38-02 Standard Guideline for the Collection and Depiction of Existing Subsurface Utility Data defines SUE by four quality standards, from Quality Level A as the highest level, to Quality Level D as the lowest. It is this system that has become a standard of care in the U.S. for collecting and depicting existing subsurface utility data. Such a classification will allow the project owner, engineer and constructor to develop strategies to reduce risk, or at a minimum, to allocate risk due to existing subsurface utilities in a defined manner.

The ASCE 38-02 standard was developed as SUE grew in the U.S. in the 1990’s. As it did so, many engineering and non-engineering companies claimed they could provide SUE services. The quality of survey offered was very ad-hoc, putting a bad name to SUE and the companies providing a good service. The expert companies, including the TBE Group, decided that a national standard should be introduced and consequently, a committee was formed and a standard developed. As one of the committee members, Nick Zembillas continued:

“SUE is a combination of civil engineering, surface geophysics, surveying and mapping, as well as non-destructive vacuum excavation and asset management technologies, which if used in conjunction, can produce accurate surveys. However, it is essential to ensure each process is carried out properly otherwise results can be misleading. It was expected that this misunderstanding of SUE would be eradicated when strict guidelines were put in place.”

Since the launch of the standard, several U.S. Federal departments and local government agencies are in ‘compliance’ by using SUE consultants and engineers as a preference to other methods of utility mapping and detection.

The encouraging thing is that a similar type of standard could be developed for the UK. Paul Scott, former Federal Highways Administration Senior Engineer, member of the ASCE 38-02 Committee and now National Utilities Liaison for TBE Group commented:

“The ASCE standard, or a very similar document, would be a great benefit to project owners and engineers in the UK as it sets forth the best known way to collect and depict existing subsurface utility data. Everywhere in the world where construction activities are underway there is the danger of conflicting with and damaging subsurface utilities such as gas pipelines, electric lines and telecommunications cables. Collection and depiction of subsurface utility data in accordance with the ASCE standard, along with the proper use of that data, will greatly alleviate time-consuming and costly utility conflicts.”

Email: fiona@manifestcomms.co.uk