Case Study: United Utilities achieves major savings and improved service levels with Ordnance Survey's OS MasterMap

United Utilities - Customer Case Study

United Utilities plc, the water, sewerage and electricity multi-utility for north‑west England, faced fragmented, paper‑based asset records, slow modelling and inefficient address management that impeded service levels and statutory safe‑dig duties. To modernise its geospatial foundations the company adopted Ordnance Survey’s OS MasterMap (and OS MasterMap Address Layer) together with MapInfo delivery, aiming for authoritative, aligned maps and accurate geocoded addresses.

Ordnance Survey provided OS MasterMap‑based topography and Address Layer integrated into United Utilities’ GIS and a web distribution service, replacing 700 plan chests and paper plots with a central system that now delivers ~50,000 plots/month to 1,700 users in 245 organisations and saves an estimated £1,000,000/year. The implementation sped hydraulic and wastewater modelling (reducing projects from months to days), underpins a 3.9 million‑address database, enables rapid notifications (e.g., 60,000 properties in ~15 minutes) and delivered measurable time, cost and accuracy improvements.

United Utilities

Peter Mahon

Asset Information Services Manager