Who are we?

The NZ Underground Asset Register is owned by Digital Built Aotearoa, a purpose-built foundation whose mission is to encourage collaboration and knowledge-sharing from lessons learned in recovery infrastructure projects to enable and improve infrastructure resilience throughout Aotearoa.

How we operate

The NZUAR was piloted in partnership, between the Wellington City Council and the Digital Built Aotearoa Foundation (DBAF). In 2025 the pilot was launched as a fully-fledged tool, which is stewarded by the foundation – who support its continued growth and development. The platform is supported by feedback and engagement from our users – including a national Technical Reference Group of industry stakeholders, who act as the ‘voice of sector’ to shape DBAF’s tools.

Open Plan are the programme lead for Digital Built Aotearoa Foundation‘s (DBAF) digital offerings – including the NZUAR. With a historical association working across DBAF’s tools – they engage with current and existing stakeholders, onboard organisations, and liaise with the technical services team to ensure that the NZUAR is fully functional.

The NZUAR is also supported by Jacobs, who build the processes to bulk upload the data.

More about our other tools

The National Forward Works Viewer is Aotearoa’s online map of planned infrastructure works. It allows users to upload their planned work programmes to one central map, accessible to different organisations, to create a single authoritative repository of mapped forward work programmes.

With built in clash/opportunity detection, and the ability to overlay additional geospatial data to improve context of the area, it quickly becomes a powerful tool to enable organisations to coordinate and collaborate with one another to improve project sequencing and timelines. This results in savings in both time, money and reputation.

Reduce programme risk and community disruption
Share resources and jointly procure materials
Reduce costs by information sharing and better coordination.
Take a 'dig once' approach
Be ready in recovery situations with a tool that can help your region plan and coordinate after a natural disaster.

View current, past, and planned works from across your region.
Coordinate work programs across multiple organisations.
Identify opportunities and clashes between projects across the region
Optimise traffic networks and reduce single point of failure risk on busy routes.
Extend asset lifecycles with better management and fewer asset strikes.

Careers

We’re not recruiting right now, but if you’d like to build the smarts that help New Zealand deliver better infrastructure, feel free to flick your CV to info@openplan.co.nz, or check the Open Plan website for vacancies at the link below.