All services should be routed underground where possible.
Electricity, water, gas and telecommunications services should be grouped together in a 2m-wide strip under a pavement or service margin and should not be placed under verges and other land reserved for trees and planting.
The National Joint Utilities Group guidelines provide further information on the positioning of utilities.
Substations and other above-ground service infrastructure should be carefully placed so as not to obstruct streets and footpaths. Alternatively, rear serving can be used to avoiding routing services under the public highway, reducing disruption. This will not however work for all street typologies.
In this section
- 4.1 Street vision and strategy
- 4.2 Street typologies
- 4.3 Creating a street network
- 4.4 Connectivity and thinking ‘beyond the red line’
- 4.5 Permeability and walkability
- 4.6 Streets and block patterns
- 4.7 Cul-de-sacs
- 4.8 20-minute neighbourhoods
- 4.9 Street adoption
- 4.10 Utilities and services
- 4.11 Emergency vehicles
- 4.12 Refuse collection and servicing
- 4.13 Character and Local Context
- 4.14 Street types overview table