How Coherence Helped National Grid Consolidate Its 100+ Websites

National Grid operates the electricity and gas transmission systems across the UK and the north-eastern United States, and plays a critical role in the UK's race to net zero by 2050. Over time it had created more than 100 websites across business units, platforms and content management systems. The fragmented estate made work inefficient for internal teams and confusing for users. Coherence worked with National Grid to consolidate it into a simpler web architecture, improving both operational efficiency and user engagement.

The Challenge

Internal inefficiency. Content was duplicated and governance was weak, causing engagement problems and operational challenges.

External confusion. Users struggled to find relevant information, which reduced engagement with important content.

Technical complexity. The range of platforms and CMSs made governance and maintenance difficult across the organisation.

National Grid needed one digital strategy to rationalise its web estate and create a first-class online presence that supported its wider goals.

The Approach

National Grid chose Acquia for its multi-site capabilities, and Coherence for its experience of consolidating large digital estates and working with Acquia. Coherence covered strategy, UX, UI, information architecture, content strategy and technical architecture.

A 10-day immersion. Coherence began with its 10-day immersion process, running parallel workshops with stakeholders across National Grid, reviewing documentation and gathering insight from internal teams to understand the full scope of the estate.

Audits. Quantitative and qualitative audits of the content found gaps and opportunities in UX, content strategy and technical architecture. Each audit led to a workstream focused on that area.

Weekly sprints. Weekly sprints and sprint demos kept stakeholders aligned, cleared blockers quickly and kept the project on track for its milestones.

A framework for the estate. Coherence developed a toolkit for National Grid that included:

• information architecture: clear navigation patterns and multi-layered sitemaps for the complexity of the sites
• content strategy: governance guidelines, SEO recommendations and a content audit to support ongoing content creation
• a component audit: a gap analysis of which existing components were fit for purpose, with designs for new ones
• a migration toolkit: a detailed guide to moving the sites to the new platform, with flexible components for the transition
• design guidelines, to keep the estate consistent

The Outcome

Consolidating the estate is an ongoing project, but Coherence's strategy work gave National Grid a framework that continues to guide it. The new information architecture, content strategy and design guidelines have already made internal processes more efficient, with less duplication and better governance. Clearer navigation and content designed for external audiences have significantly improved the user experience, and the framework supports the continuing migration of the estate.