A multidomain Drupal platform to run 8 websites for BANES Heritage Services

Client

Bath & North Somerset Council

Department

Heritage Services Team

Heritage Services is a department within the Bath & North East Somerset Council, responsible for managing several prominent heritage sites and services. These include the renowned Roman Baths, the Fashion Museum Bath, Victoria Art Gallery, and the World Heritage Site of Bath. Additionally, the council oversees Bath Historic Venues, Bath Film Office, Bath Record Office, and Bath Museums Week.

“Throughout the re-design process Will and his team have been patient and supportive, offering help at all points to ensure we achieved the best possible websites we could manage independently. We met regularly with the team, they turned what could have been a challenge project into a great creative collaboration. They continue to provide us with an excellent level of support. I would have no hesitation in recommending WE to anyone who is looking to raise the impact of their websites while ensuring they are fully accessible.”

Penny Jenkins

Commercial manager - Heritage Services

Project brief

Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) Heritage Services faced a critical need to upgrade their suite of 8 websites, originally built on Drupal 7, as the software was scheduled to reach end of life in November 2022. In September 2021, they sought a partner capable of redesigning and rebuilding the websites on Drupal 9. The chosen partner was expected to handle not only the design and development but also content migration, ongoing hosting, support, maintenance, and further development of the websites.

Key objectives

Enhance user experience on the websites.

Optimise website performance across various devices.

Drive sales of tickets, events, exhibitions, and other commercial products to support the council's wider initiatives.

Raise awareness of each museum's brand and the council's heritage work.

Implement secure, reliable, and fast hosting.

Provide a responsive, proactive support, and maintenance package.

A lady sitting at the great Bath at the Roman Baths

Approach

The project entailed a thorough discovery phase, engaging with representatives from 8 distinct departments and key stakeholders. This phase involved workshops and expert interviews to create user personas, outline user journeys, and define prioritised requirements. This formed the basis for developing the information architecture and design of the Drupal 9 multi-domain platform.

Following an Agile methodology, transparent regular communication and continuous collaboration. We proceeded to create user-centred websites for each department while adhering to individual brand guidelines. The ticketing management system underwent a redevelopment to allow the heritage team to effortlessly manage various tiers of ticket pricing for the Roman Baths.

Solution

Bespoke design & user experience

User-Centric Design

Focused on the needs of end users and admin teams

Responsive Design

Ensures optimal user experience across all devices

Brand Awareness

Adhered to individual brand guidelines for each department

Accessibility Compliance

The design adheres to WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility requirements, ensuring it is accessible to all users.

Enhanced Functionality

Improved pricing display

Clearer pricing information and seamless links to the ticketing system

Ticketing System Redevelopment

Allowed management of various ticket pricing tiers for the Roman Baths

Media-Rich Components

Crafted flexible media-rich components and layout templates for distinctive content creation, including Quotes, image carousels, videos and accordions.

Enhanced Search Functionality

Incorporated Apache Solr for efficient and fast search results

Content Migration

Efficient migration

Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 with zero downtime

Optimised Performance

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Enhanced online discoverability through search engine optimisation

Clean Navigation

The design prioritises clean and easy navigation, making it simple for users to find information and engage with services.

Results

Launched in September 2022, the new websites have seen a substantial increase in user engagement. This uptick is reflected in a notable rise in ticket sales, with both the Roman Baths and the Victoria Art Gallery experiencing over a 10% increase. This is especially significant for the Roman Baths, which traditionally sold 1.1 million tickets annually.

Since implementing a single Drupal 9 multidomain platform, the time required to apply security patches has significantly decreased. As a result, support time can now be actively allocated to improvements rather than just maintenance.

Notably, when tested using Google PageSpeed Insights, all 8 heritage websites, have achieved a 100% rating for Accessibility Best Practices and SEO.

100

Accessibility

100

Best practice

100

SEO

Key achievements

Enhanced User Experience

Significant improvements across all 8 websites, content is available within a maximum of 3 clicks.

Optimised Performance

Improved website performance and device compatibility

Increased Sales

Boosted sales of tickets, events, and exhibitions. Over 10% increase in ticket sales for both the Roman Baths and Victoria Art Gallery

Brand Awareness

Raised awareness of each museum's brand and the council's heritage work.

Secure Hosting

Implemented secure, reliable, and fast hosting solutions

Proactive Support

Responsive and proactive support and maintenance package

This project exemplifies how a comprehensive approach to design and technology integration can transform multiple public service websites into an efficient, user-friendly, and commercially successful digital platform.

The collaboration ensured a seamless transition from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 and Drupal 9 to Drupal 10, enhanced the user experience, and supported the council's broader initiatives through improved online presence and functionality.

A multidomain Drupal platform to run 8 websites for BANES Heritage Services

Solution

Results

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