MAPP privacy policy

Macvere Utility Consultants Ltd - last updated 6 October 2026

who we are

This policy explains how Macvere Utility Consultants Ltd uses personal information when you use MAPP, the Macvere Application at mapp.macvere.co.uk, or when your details are held in it. MAPP is the platform we use to manage utility projects for our clients, and through which our clients, their staff and our suppliers can see the projects they are involved in.

Macvere Utility Consultants Ltd is the controller of the personal information described in this policy. This means we decide why and how it is used, and we are responsible for it under the UK General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, as amended by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.

We are a company registered in England and Wales under company number 16119667. Our registered office is 1 Port Way, Port Solent, Portsmouth PO6 4TY.

Our registration number with the Information Commissioner's Office is ZB947859.

You can contact us about this policy or your personal information by email at info@macvere.co.uk, by telephone on 023 9438 1400, or by post to the address above, marked for the attention of the Director. The Director is responsible for data protection at Macvere.

who this policy covers

This policy covers everyone who uses MAPP or whose details are held in it. That includes:

our clients and the people who work for them;

our suppliers and subcontractors and the people who work for them;

people named on the projects we manage, such as landowners, utility company staff and other consultants;

our own staff, when they use MAPP.

It applies to MAPP only. Our website and our general business activities are covered by our separate privacy notice. Our staff's employment records are covered by our employee privacy notice.

the information we collect

We collect your account information. This is your name, email address, telephone numbers, job title, the organisation you work for and your role in MAPP.

We collect sign-in and security information. This is your password, which is stored only in a protected form that we cannot read, your two-factor authentication settings, records of each time you sign in or fail to sign in, and the internet protocol (IP) address and device information your browser sends when you do.

We keep a record of activity in MAPP. When you use MAPP, we record the pages you open and the items you select, such as sites, applications, documents and the items shown on maps, as well as the changes you make. For each one we record who you are, what you opened or changed, when, the page you were on, your IP address, and the device information your browser sends with each request. Device information means the browser and operating system you are using and the type of device, as your browser describes them in its "user agent". We do not use this information to work out your precise location, and we do not use it to track you on other websites.

We collect project information. This is information about the sites, applications, quotes, letters of authority, drawings, maps, meetings, minutes, transcripts, correspondence, utility records and other records we manage for our clients. It includes the names and contact details of people involved in those projects, and the content of emails and documents filed against them.

We collect communications. When MAPP sends you an email or a text message, we keep a record of what was sent, to whom and when, and whether it was delivered. When an email is logged in MAPP's correspondence register, we keep a copy of it and its attachments. When a utility company or other asset owner replies to one of our requests for utility records, MAPP files the reply and its attachments against the project.

We collect feedback. If you rate an email or give feedback through MAPP, we keep your rating and any comments you add.

We collect your preferences. These include your notification choices and your display settings.

We do not ask for special category information, such as information about health, ethnicity, religion or trade union membership, or for information about criminal convictions. Please do not include it in documents, messages or comments you add to MAPP. If it is ever received, we will limit who can see it and remove it where we can.

where we get your information from

We collect most information directly from you, or from the organisation you work for when it asks us to set up your access.

We also receive information about people involved in our projects from our clients, from utility companies and other statutory undertakers, from local authorities and highway authorities, from other consultants and contractors working on the same project, and from correspondence sent to us.

We use public sources where they are relevant to a project or to setting up a client. These include Companies House, for company details and registered officers, HM Land Registry, local planning authority records, and published mapping and utility records.

We create some information ourselves, such as the activity and security records described above, and the notes, minutes and transcripts of meetings we hold.

how we use your information and our lawful basis

We use your information to provide MAPP and to deliver the services we have agreed to provide to our clients. Where you are our client, our lawful basis is the performance of our contract with you. Where you work for a client or supplier, or you are involved in one of our projects, our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in delivering the project and working with your organisation.

We use sign-in, security and activity records, including IP addresses and device information, to protect MAPP and the information in it, to detect and investigate misuse or unauthorised access, to keep a reliable history of each project, to understand how MAPP is used so we can improve it, and to answer questions about who saw or changed what. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in keeping our systems and our clients' information secure and accurate, and in running and improving MAPP. We have considered whether this is fair to you. The records are limited to what happens inside MAPP, they are only available to a small number of senior Macvere staff, they are never sold or used for advertising, and they are kept for a set period. We consider that our interests, and our clients' interest in the security of their information, are not outweighed by yours. You can object, as explained below.

We use communications records and feedback to run the service, to answer questions and to improve the way we work. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in providing a good service.

We use an artificial intelligence service, Claude, provided by Anthropic, to save time on routine reading and drafting. MAPP uses it to read new project enquiries sent to our new schemes mailbox, including the text of PDF documents attached to them, and to suggest the details to record for a new project. MAPP uses it to summarise, and suggest details from, emails that Macvere staff log in the correspondence register. MAPP uses it to help prepare our existing services reports, by suggesting how replies from utility companies and other asset owners should be recorded and by drafting a summary of the search results we hold. In every case Claude only makes suggestions or drafts. A member of Macvere staff checks each one and decides what is recorded, and a report is only issued after a member of staff has approved it. Claude does not decide who can see information in MAPP, and it is not used to make decisions about you. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in managing our projects efficiently and accurately. You can object, as explained below.

We keep records where the law requires us to, for example for tax, accounting and health and safety purposes. Our lawful basis is compliance with a legal obligation.

We may use information to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in protecting our business and our clients.

We do not use your information for marketing through MAPP. We do not sell your information. We do not make decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects by automated means alone.

who we share your information with

We share information with the client and the other organisations involved in a project, to the extent they need it for that project. A client only ever sees information about its own projects.

We use service providers who process information for us under contract and only on our instructions. These are:

IONOS, which hosts MAPP and stores its files and backups;

Microsoft, which provides our email and SharePoint document storage;

Xero, which provides our accounting and invoicing;

ClickUp, which provides our task management;

Zoho, which provides electronic signatures for letters of authority and quotes;

Textmagic, which sends text messages;

Google, which provides the maps shown in MAPP;

Anthropic, which provides Claude, an artificial intelligence service. Authorised Macvere staff may use the Claude assistant to read MAPP information, on a read-only basis and limited to what each member of staff can already see. MAPP sends Claude the text of new project enquiries received in our new schemes mailbox, including the text of PDF documents attached to them, so that it can suggest the details to record. MAPP also uses Claude to help file correspondence, and to summarise, and suggest details from, emails that Macvere staff log in MAPP, such as dates, references and the sender's details. Attachments are not sent. For our existing services reports, MAPP sends Claude the text of replies from utility companies and other asset owners and of Linesearch Before You Dig enquiry reports, so that it can suggest how each should be recorded, and the search results we hold, so that it can draft a summary for the report.

We may also share information with utility companies and other statutory undertakers where this is needed to make or progress an application or to obtain records of their apparatus, with our professional advisers, insurers and auditors, and with the police, regulators or courts where the law requires us to or where it is needed to prevent or detect crime.

If our business, or part of it, is sold or reorganised, information may be transferred to the new owner on the same terms as this policy.

international transfers

Some of our service providers store or process information outside the United Kingdom, including in the European Economic Area and the United States. Where this happens, we make sure the transfer is protected by UK adequacy regulations, including the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified under it, or by the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU standard contractual clauses, or by another safeguard recognised under UK data protection law. You can ask us for details of the safeguard that applies to a particular provider.

how long we keep your information

We keep project records, including their history of changes, for as long as the project is active and then for 15 years after it is completed. Utility infrastructure is built to last, and claims about professional advice on a development can be brought for up to 15 years under the Limitation Act 1980 and the Latent Damage Act 1986.

We keep financial and accounting records for ten years from the end of the financial year they relate to, which runs from January to December, to meet our tax obligations to HMRC.

We keep account information for as long as you have an account and for six years after it is closed.

We keep records of what people view and open in MAPP, including the IP address and device information recorded with them, and sign-in and security records, for six years.

We keep feedback and communications records, including emails, for 15 years, the same period as the project records they relate to.

When MAPP sends a logged email to Claude, we keep a record of the request and of Claude's reply with the project record it relates to, for the same period as the rest of the project information. Any suggestion a member of staff accepts becomes part of the project record and is kept with it.

When a retention period ends, we review the record and either delete it or anonymise it, unless we need to keep it for an ongoing or expected legal claim or the law requires us to keep it longer. Backups of MAPP are kept for a shorter, fixed period and are then overwritten.

how we protect your information

MAPP is protected by two-factor authentication for staff, encryption in transit, access controls that limit each person to the information their role allows, and a full record of activity. Files are stored in private storage that is not publicly accessible. Passwords that Macvere uses for utility companies' websites are stored encrypted and can only be seen by authorised staff, and each time one is viewed this is recorded. Records cannot be deleted in day-to-day use, and the activity record cannot be edited. Our staff are trained in data protection and are bound by confidentiality.

your rights

You have the right to be told how we use your information, which is the purpose of this policy.

You have the right to ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you.

You have the right to ask us to correct information that is wrong or incomplete.

You have the right to ask us to delete your information. Where we need to keep a record for a legal reason or for an ongoing project, we will explain this.

You have the right to ask us to restrict how we use your information.

You have the right to object to our use of your information where we rely on our legitimate interests, including the activity, IP address and device records described above and our use of Claude. We will stop unless we have compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests, or we need the information for a legal claim.

You have the right to ask for information you have given us to be provided to you, or to another organisation, in a portable format.

You have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing that has legal or similarly significant effects. We do not make such decisions.

To use any of these rights, contact us using the details above. There is no charge. We may need to confirm your identity first, and we may ask you to clarify your request; the time we have to respond starts once we have what we need. We will respond within one month. If a request is complex or you have made several, we may extend this by up to two further months, and we will tell you within the first month if we do. When you ask for a copy of your information, we will carry out a reasonable and proportionate search.

complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have used your information, please tell us first so we can try to put it right. You can complain by email to info@macvere.co.uk, by telephone on 023 9438 1400 or by post to the address above, marked for the attention of the Director. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days, look into it without undue delay, keep you informed, and tell you the outcome.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, telephone 0303 123 1113, website ico.org.uk. The ICO will usually expect you to have raised your concern with us first.

children

MAPP is a business system and is not intended for anyone under 18. We do not knowingly create accounts for children.

cookies

MAPP uses cookies and similar technologies that are strictly necessary for signing in and keeping your session secure, and a small number that remember your settings. Our cookie policy explains which ones and why.

changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows when it was last changed. We will tell MAPP users about significant changes when they next sign in.