One Platform, Eight Sites, Zero Headaches

The Challenge

Managing a collection of separate sites on an aging WordPress setup had become a real drain on the team’s time. Simple updates required multi-page internal guides just to carry them out. The CMS was built on WPBakery, a page builder that had served its purpose but had grown unwieldy — making routine edits cumbersome and, in some cases, error-prone. The team spent time maintaining the sites rather than using them.

There was also a broader brand concern. The existing sites lacked the consistency and polish expected of a company of Billington’s stature, and the structure wasn’t set up to convert enquiries effectively.

They needed a cleaner, more modern platform that the team could actually manage themselves — one that reflected the scale and professionalism of the business without demanding constant developer intervention to keep it running.

Our Approach

We proposed a full design and rebuild using a custom WordPress multisite setup: a single shared codebase powering eight sites, with each subsidiary retaining its own identity through distinct colour schemes and branding, all managed from one backend.

The technical foundation used our proven combination of a custom WordPress theme built on Timber, Advanced Custom Fields Pro, and Custom Post Types — the same approach we’ve used successfully on other complex builds. This gave the team structured, intuitive content editing without any reliance on third-party page builders.

The core content types — projects, team members, careers, company pages, and home banners — were standardised across all sites, meaning shared content no longer required manual duplication across separate installations. Cross-posting content between the group sites became straightforward.

Design was handled iteratively, with feedback built into the process at each stage. The goal was a visual upgrade that felt right for a corporate B2B audience: confident, clear, and built to drive enquiries.

SEO foundations were set from the ground up: page titles, meta descriptions, heading structure, redirects, sitemaps, caching, and image optimisation were all addressed during the build, not bolted on afterwards.

The Result

The new platform launched in March 2026 and the team took to it quickly. Post-launch support requests were minimal — and the few items that came through were phase two additions rather than fixes. That’s a meaningful indicator of build quality.

The WPBakery dependency is gone. Content that previously required an SOP to update can now be managed independently. Eight sites, one backend, one coherent brand.

The training session at launch was delivered in person and recorded for the team to revisit — something they appreciated, and something we’ll continue doing on all projects.

We now work on a monthly basis to maintain the website, offer support and push new features through our website care and growth package.