GPR
GPR survey: how ground penetrating radar finds buried services
Updated
A GPR survey sends radar pulses into the ground and reads the echoes to find buried pipes, cables, ducts and voids, including plastic pipes that carry no signal; on a utility survey it is used with electromagnetic location (EML) to meet PAS 128 Quality Level B.
What GPR and EML each find
- Electromagnetic location (EML)
- Finds metallic pipes and live cables, and anything a signal can be put onto. It cannot see a plastic pipe on its own.
- Ground penetrating radar (GPR)
- Finds changes in the ground, including plastic and clay pipes, ducts, chambers and voids. Wet clay and made ground cut its depth.
Spatial Dimensions states that a detection survey can locate up to about 95% of buried utilities, that 100% detection is not feasible, and that depth is to about 15% where EML and GPR both confirm a service, and about 40% from one technology alone.
Source: Spatial Dimensions: PAS 128 utility surveys, read 28 October 2026
What a GPR survey costs
CADMap publishes GPR and utility survey prices by area, from £450 to £750 for a site up to a quarter of an acre. Its full multi-utility package is priced on request.
Source: CADMap: GPR survey price, read 28 October 2026
Every published price we found, with its source and the day it was read.
Source: Utility Survey Price Index: every row, with its source