UNDERGROUND CABLE LOCATING MELBOURNE
CERTLOC Certified Cable Locating – Call 1300 859 027
Finding What You Can't Afford to Hit
A severed electrical cable is one of the most dangerous and expensive outcomes of uncontrolled excavation. It's a safety risk to crews on site, a cost risk to the project, and in Melbourne's dense inner-city network, often a disruption risk to everyone around the site as well. HCS provides dedicated underground cable locating across Melbourne, tracing live and abandoned electrical, telecommunications and data cabling before excavation, drilling or trenching begins.
Metro Melbourne's electricity network alone is split across five separate distribution businesses, CitiPower, Powercor, Jemena, AusNet Services and United Energy, depending on where your site sits, each holding their own asset records. A DBYD/BYDA referral pulls from the right combination of these owners, but records only tell you what's supposed to be there. HCS's locators physically trace and mark cable paths on site, so you're working from what's actually there.
How HCS Locates Underground Cables
Electromagnetic (EM) locating is the primary technique for cable detection. It reads the electromagnetic field given off by live conductive cabling, tracing the signal along its path with a receiver. It's fast and reliable for anything carrying a live signal or conductive metal sheath.
Where EM locating alone isn't enough, de-energised cabling, some telecommunications conduit, or cable runs in areas with signal interference from nearby infrastructure, HCS layers in GPR to confirm position and depth from a second, independent method. Working to both technologies together, rather than relying on one, is standard practice under AS 5488.1:2022, the Australian standard for subsurface utility information classification.
What's Involved
- DBYD/BYDA records review to identify likely cable owners and existing plans for your site
- On-site EM locating of live and conductive cable runs
- GPR cross-check where EM alone can't confirm a result
- Field marking to industry-standard colour coding
- Electronic handover data, 2D overlay through to full mapping, depending on project needs
Areas We Service
HCS runs cable locating projects across metro Melbourne, CBD, Docklands, Southbank, Fitzroy, Carlton, Richmond, South Yarra, and growth-corridor suburbs including Tarneit, Truganina, Point Cook, Craigieburn, Epping, Pakenham and Cranbourne. If your site isn't listed, get in touch, coverage extends across the wider metro area.
Why HCS
11+ years in business, 2,500+ sites investigated across Australia. HCS is a CERTLOC Certified Locating Organisation and NULCA member, working to ISO 9001, ISO 45001 and ISO 14001 certified management systems. Cable locating is typically carried out alongside HCS's broader underground service locating service. If your project also needs the full picture (water, gas, stormwater, telecommunications) rather than cabling specifically, that's the page to start from.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is cable locating different from general underground service locating?
It isn't a different service so much as a specific focus. Underground service locating covers all buried utility types (electrical, gas, water, sewer, stormwater, telecommunications), and cable locating is the electrical/telecommunications-specific part of that same investigation. Most projects need the full picture, so cable locating is usually delivered as part of a broader locate rather than in isolation.
Can you locate de-energised or abandoned cables?
De-energised cabling won't produce the electromagnetic field that live-cable EM locating relies on, which is where GPR and a review of historical DBYD/BYDA records both become more important. A combination approach gives the best chance of confirming an abandoned run that was never removed.
Do you locate NBN and telecommunications cabling as well as power?
Yes, HCS locates telecommunications and data cabling alongside electrical, using the same combined EM and GPR approach.
What do I receive after a cable locate?
Field marking on site plus an electronic data file. The level of detail (simple 2D overlay through to full 3D mapping) depends on what your project needs.
How do I book a cable locate or get a quote?
Call 1300 859 027 or submit an enquiry through the form below, and the team will confirm scope and scheduling for your site.
