Relaunching a suite of Drupal websites for a specialist not-for-profit organisation
HR Wallingford needed to redevelop and redesign five of its websites, migrating them to Drupal while improving the overall user experience and interface design.
HR Wallingford is a global not-for-profit civil engineering and environmental hydraulics organisation that develops solutions for challenges where water interacts with people, infrastructure and the environment. Its teams of specialists deliver research and consultancy worldwide, helping governments, engineers and organisations address complex water-related issues.
In addition to its main corporate website, the organisation manages several specialist websites that support training, knowledge sharing and sector collaboration. These platforms play an important role in communicating expertise and providing access to resources and services used by professionals across the water and engineering sectors.
With an international reputation in civil engineering and environmental hydraulics, HR Wallingford supports professionals and organisations tackling some of the world’s most complex water challenges. Its digital platforms provide a hub for research outputs, training programmes, events and industry collaboration.
OWA began working with HR Wallingford in 2020, initially providing hosting and technical support for the organisation’s main website. This included further development work to introduce new training functionality and an upgrade from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9, strengthening the platform’s performance and security.
Building on this relationship, HR Wallingford asked OWA to redevelop and redesign five additional websites, ensuring a consistent design language, improved user journeys and a unified content management approach across all of its web properties.
Several of HR Wallingford's specialist websites were built on the Adobe Business Catalyst platform, which was scheduled for discontinuation. This created a clear deadline for redevelopment while also presenting an opportunity to improve usability, visual design and long-term maintainability.
OWA was asked to deliver a modernised suite of websites that would align with the organisation’s main Drupal platform while improving navigation and user experience (UX) across each site.
- Legacy CMS platform approaching end-of-life
- Five separate websites requiring migration and redesign
- Need for consistent UX, UI and branding across all platforms
- Improve information architecture and content discovery
- Deliver redevelopment ahead of CMS discontinuation deadline
The project required careful coordination with internal stakeholders and a structured delivery plan to ensure all sites were successfully migrated and launched within the required timeframe.
The redevelopment began with a collaborative discovery process to understand the structure and purpose of each website and define a clear migration roadmap. We reviewed the information architecture and user journeys across the platforms, identifying opportunities to simplify navigation and improve how visitors access content, training and services.
Using HR Wallingford's existing Drupal platform as a foundation, we developed a consistent design framework and adapted it for each website’s specific requirements. Wireframes and prototypes were created to test layouts and interactions, enabling the project team to refine the UX and visual design before development began.
Once approved, the sites were rebuilt in Drupal 9 and delivered through an agile process that incorporated stakeholder feedback at key stages. This ensured all five websites were successfully migrated and relaunched ahead of the Adobe Business Catalyst platform’s discontinuation.
The new suite of Drupal websites provides a more consistent and scalable digital platform for HR Wallingford's online presence:
- Unified design language across all web properties
- Improved navigation and content discovery for users
- Migration to a secure, modern Drupal platform
- Centralised CMS management across multiple sites
- Successful delivery ahead of the legacy CMS shutdown
Organisations managing multiple websites on ageing or unsupported platforms often face tight deadlines when a CMS reaches end-of-life. A structured redevelopment approach helps reduce risk while improving usability and long-term maintainability across all digital properties.
- Migrate multiple websites from unsupported CMS platforms
- Improve UX and information architecture across web properties
- Standardise design and branding across multiple sites
- Consolidate platforms into a scalable CMS architecture
- Deliver redevelopment projects within fixed platform deadlines
Whether you’re looking to create a new application or facing legacy system challenges and performance bottlenecks, we're here to help.
UK-based design and development
Project planning and scope definition
Technical architecture recommendations
Migration strategy for legacy systems
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