How to manage your new architecture website project successfully

What one architecture practice’s major rebrand taught us about turning a website redesign from an ‘impossible programme’ to a project delivered on time, on spec, and under pressure.

Architecture firm Mountford Pigott needed their website live by a specific date, a non-negotiable launch aligned with a major strategic rebrand. New brand positioning, massive portfolio expansion showcasing both recent work as well as their century-long heritage, and zero flexibility on timing. As they put it, it was, “an impossible programme.”

But we got there.

What made this project successful wasn’t just meeting the deadline, it was proving that high-pressure timelines can still produce elegant, strategic work. Here’s how we approached the key challenges and what other architecture practices (indeed any service-led business with a hard deadline) can learn from the process.

1. Mountford Pigott: from aspirations to reality

The challenge:
The brief was comprehensive: complete rebrand, expanded portfolio covering 80+ projects across six categories, complete business history, the entire team, precise detail and technical drawings of each project. All while working toward an immovable launch date.

Planning led to strategy:
We decided to speak their language and treated the project like a construction schedule. Friendly, collaborative weekly calls kept decisions moving. Shared development tools (particularly Figma) meant they could review progress while we added content. Each sprint had clear deliverables and fixed sign-off dates, right through to launch.

How the project benefited:
The result? This new architecture practice website launched exactly on time, hitting every milestone. It placed Mountford Pigott’s extensive portfolio in an impressive fresh light, establishing them as the significant practice they are. As partner Anna Ryten put it: “Thank you and your team for turning our aspirations and ideas into the fully functioning reality that is our new website.”

2. Managing complexity without losing calm

The challenge:
Architecture websites mean managing sometimes hundreds of photographs. This one had another thread of content: decades of work across multiple sectors and generations. Most agencies would panic when faced with this scale, but we stayed calm and got organised.

Planning led to strategy:
We created a ‘single point of truth’ for content on Dropbox. Every phase was planned in hurdles that had to be vaulted and signed off. The massive archive scanning project was completed well ahead of schedule, ensuring visuals were ready to grade, crop, and upload. Total transparency of progress meant everyone could see exactly what was needed, and when.

How the project benefited:
With three weeks to go before launch, 95% of content and design elements were signed off. Satisfyingly, the final phase running up a midnight go-live focused on refinement, not scrambling. Our finished site includes features like a custom map linking project pages to locations across the world, and makes it easy for Mountford Pigott to expand their portfolio in-house.

3. Why website projects succeed when they feel like architecture projects

The challenge:
Great architecture projects need planning, teamwork and vision. Turns out, so do great websites. For many firms, website projects can feel overwhelming: too big, too complex, too time-consuming. But there’s another way to see them. A period of reflection, reviewing years of work, can actually be a satisfying way of celebrating achievements.

Planning led to strategy:
Continuing our building metaphor, we ran this website project like an architectural build: define the brief, lay the foundation, build the framework, finesse the finish. This creates a soothing rhythm that lets teams feel in control and actually enjoy the process, rather than the alternative of enduring it.

How the project benefited:
Mountford Pigott’s site now reflects who they are: a significant practice with incredible large-scale builds, particularly in retail and leisure. The project proved that pressure and quality aren’t mutually exclusive when you have the right methodology.

As Anna concluded: “We’re so happy with the result which surpassed our expectations, what seemed like an impossible programme was comfortably achieved.”

Need your new architecture website live by a specific date?

Whether you’re planning a website refresh or facing a hard deadline, we can help you get there on time and on brief.

We turn pressure into precision. When your launch date isn’t negotiable, your website partner needs a plan for delivery.

Call us on +44 20 7351 4083 or email us direct to start the conversation.

More about the project

Visit the Mountford Pigott website

Read more background to the project

More of our work in property and real estate branding and web design