Posted By I. M. Twining One of my contracts is having real problems getting hold of coloured service drawings from the electricity utility service provider. The Client has sourced these drawings for us but they are always in black and white. When we questioned this we were told that the utility company would only provide black and white drawings. I have since checked with them myself and been told the same as the Client and that they had no intention in the foreseeable future in producing coloured drawings. The company in question is NEDL and it is the electricity service drawings we have a problem getting in colour. I have worked all over the country (literally) and this is the first time I have come across this. Does anyone else have any experience of this problem and if so how did you overcome it?

Posted By I. M. Twining Hi Richard thanks for the response. I have spoken to the utility company and they say they have no intention of supplying colour copies but we have previously had some colour copies sent. It doesn't appear to be a matter of cost just they are not prepared to do it. Every other utility company I have had to deal with quite happily supply them in colour. In fact I was under the impression that it was a requirement. Unfortunately I can't find anything to back this up. As you probably know if you've had to read the drawings it makes it so much easier to discern the route of the services and their voltages etc.

Posted By Gra Clarke Hi, It is a legal requirement, look at the NRSWA I think its reg 64, however it does not say anything about being in colour. We always used a tracer, hope this helps Graham

Posted By I. M. Twining Andrew, yes you do use the same techniques regardless of voltage but when you are reading the drawings on site it is not easy to differentiate between a kerbline and a cable when the drawings are in black and white. Also when there are multiple lines on the drawings it helps to know whether there is more more than one cable in the area of the excavation as an 11KvA cable will mask the location of a smaller cable in close proximity to it. With black & white drawings with multiple lines on you can't necessarily see that two cables are in the same location and therefore having located the 11KvA hit the smaller cable because you did not realise it was there. Colour drawings just make it so much easier. It is easy to say that you should always assume that there are other services in existence and treat the excavation accordingly but it doesn't work like that in reality. We have an excellent record which I would stand against anyones in the industry in regard to the small number of cables we do hit in relation to the amount of excavations we carry out, but we still hit them and this contract has hit more than our others (only three this year but still three too many). Graham, thanks for that. There are several regs etc that refer to the requirement for the service plans but as you say, none that I can find that state the need for them to be in colour. Having said that NEDL are the only ones that I have come across who only provide them in black & white. Hey ho.

Posted By Alan McMaster At National One Call we get plans from all the utilities in the UK, and I can confirm that only NEDL (CE Electric) provide black and white only, but there are others such as Scottish and Southern who give online access and although they show in colour on-screen they print only in black and white. It is not normally a problem unless you are trying to distinguish service capacities or trying to compile a desktop survey plan. Alan