LinesearchbeforeUdig (LSBUD) Membership Overview
We protect all asset owners, large or small, ranging from the smallest private network to a distribution network with assets along all streets.
The service processes over 3.9 million enquiries per annum- that’s more than one every 10 seconds.
Benefits of LSBUD Membership
Membership reduces asset strikes
Through LSBUD Membership, members can save significant costs by reducing expensive third-party damages
LSBUD are committed to help you protect your assets and the UK’s workforce to the highest possible standard.
Over 3.9 million searches are conducted by our existing users every year
Increasing resilience and safety by reducing the risk of utility strikes:
- More enquiries = More awareness of your assets = Less risk of asset strikes
- Increasing protection through significant annual enquiry volume growth
- Allowing you to understand and control who is working near your network, including alerts for work near more sensitive assets.
Cost savings across your business:
- Improved service resilience and reduced repairs and downtime
- Fewer administrative resources needed to respond to enquiries
- Continual software development.
Better customer service:
- Making it quicker and easier for your customers to get your information
- Reduction in unplanned interruptions and customer lost minutes
- Bespoke systems to ensure full security and control
Improving the industry for all:
- Reducing the risk to workers
- Shortening lead times leading to improved productivity
- Allowing faster roll out of major programmes, e.g. fibre rollout, EV charging points and mains replacements
Why Join LSBUD?
Safety
- Reduction in asset strikes through increased communication with third parties
- Greater visibility and awareness of your assets to over 3.9 million searches per annum – that’s about one every 10 seconds
- Providing the most up to date asset data
Asset Management & Security
- Greater understanding of who is working near your network with a full audit trail of enquiries affecting your assets
- Control and live visibility of who can access your asset records
- Bespoke escalation and authorisation processes to suit your requirements
Efficiency & Financial
- A single approach that caters for all third parties
- Receiving only those enquiries that are near your network
- Significant reduction in administrative time responding to third party enquiries
- Industry engagement increasing third party awareness of your network across the UK
- LSBUD Helpdesk Team to handle third party support issues on your behalf
- Options available to streamline third party plan payments
Communication
- Instant responses given 24/7 with facility to deliver asset data within 10 minutes
- Allowing third parties to receive your information from an established service that they already use
LSBUD Membership Options
LSBUD is a free to use online search enquiry system which any third party can use to help them work safely. By undertaking a simple search, each enquirer gets an instant response for all the apparatus owned and/or operated by the 140+ Asset Owners (LSBUD Members). The service processes over 3.7 million enquiries per annum with volumes increasing by approximately 15% per annum over the previous five years.
1. Standard Membership
Receive a pdf (via email) with details of all enquiries made in the vicinity of your network, ensuring that your assets are checked against over 3.9 million searches per annum. Your teams are then able to respond with asset plans and safe digging information accordingly.
2. Direct Data Feed
Receive all enquiries within the vicinity of your network electronically so that your systems can respond accordingly, ensuring seamless integration with your existing systems.
3. Hosted Plan Response
A fully managed solution that creates automated asset record responses on your behalf, fully configurable to your business requirements, allowing industry leading response times, full audit trails and with authorisation and payment handling facility.
"We are delighted with the way that LSBUD has transformed our whole process of managing asset data requests. We now have a faster and more reactive solution that gives utilities, developers and local authorities unrivalled access to our asset data online, whilst at the same time, protecting our intellectual property rights. Most importantly, in making our data more widely available, we are dramatically reducing the likelihood of asset strikes helping everyone to work more safely and efficiently, leaving us more time to do what we do best - managing our network on behalf of our customers."
Mary Horsted
Network Planning and Administration Supervisor
"It has been refreshing to work with LSBUD on this project. I can’t think of another service provider that cares for its Members or the industry as much as LSBUD does. It is always thinking about how it can make safety better, and UKPN is pleased to be a part of that.”
Emily Wood
Cable Damage and Plan Provision Manager at UK Power Networks
“LSBUD has provided us with a fast, efficient and trouble-free way of distributing our network location data, ensuring that all have access to it. National Grid Electricity Distribution has worked with LSBUD for five years, and we’re immensely pleased with the service provided. LSBUD has massively reduced the number of mapping requests that need to be processed in-house, hugely reducing our workload in this capacity.”
Dave Burnford
Mapping Technical Team Manager at National Grid Electricity Distribution
“Our customers now have access to information about our network 24 hours a day, all year around. The portal helps customers with simple enquiries to self-serve, while our experienced team focus more on complex and challenging enquiries like high pressure pipelines. With LSBUD's support we have been able to give more customers better information. 7.5 million people rely on our network everyday and improving the information provided not only improves the customer experience, it also keeps our network safer."
Stephen Davies
Plant Protection Network Officer
Members’ Assets
The combined asset network currently totals over 1,900,000 kms of assets including:
- Gas transmission and distribution networks
- Electricity transmission and distribution networks
- Water and sewerage networks
- High pressure hydrocarbon pipelines
- Fibre optic cable networks
- District heating networks
GAS TRANSMISSION & DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS
Water & sewerage networks
ELECTRICITY TRANSMISSION & DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS
FIBRE OPTIC CABLE NETWORK
HIGH PRESSURE HYDROCARBON PIPELINES
