Severfield

Severfield Plc - Iconography and Design Development


- COMMUNICATION -
- DESIGN -
- DEVELOPMENT -
- PRODUCTION -
Background

Building the Future

Severfield plc Iconography and Design brief. Severfield is the largest structural steel business in the UK and one of the biggest in Europe. Widely acknowledged for world class engineering and design excellence, Severfield operates from four sites in the UK and also has an expanding operation in India. One of Severfield’s sites is located in North Yorkshire. As the largest of the individual sites covering 55 acres, Dalton forms a hub for much of the Severfield’s activity. Clients serviced by Severfield (UK) Ltd cover a broad range of disciplines from construction contractors and developers, to engineers and architects.

The brief

The largest structural steel business in the UK and one of the biggest in Europe

Severfield carried out a rebrand of the organisation in 2014 to ensure a complete understanding of the structure of the company and its strategic goals with all stakeholders. It was vital to continue to carry this forward and for the Communications team to be able to update projects and display these effectively on the website in real-time via an efficient content management system. Also to consider using the benefits of utilising social media with landing pages frequently formed within the website to refresh content with both search engines and the end-user. There were several key areas that needed addressing, importantly, the Careers section to ensure a healthy pipeline of young talent and also the possible addition of a video hub to allow a different method of marketing communication. It is important to note that the website had to be made live within 6 weeks, ahead of Severfield plc announcing its Annual Results.

The design process

Website design & development

The first and foremost important step in this implementation was to enable Severfield to have total control of their own website; so transitioning the existing site from Kariba CMS (a bespoke system) to WordPress. This allowed fresh content to be created, edited and published directly to the website with ease and in real-time. Other areas completed included ensuring a seamless journey through the site for the end-user, introducing dynamic new posts, case studies and a video hub, all of which back-linked to other relevant areas of the website. The newly enhanced Careers section is now searchable by both location and job function. Applicants for specific roles are also able to upload their CVs which are then sent onto the HR Department for immediate review. The most innovative development however was the Project section, where pages are updated, again in real-time and excitingly these pages are then available immediately as a downloadable pdf, which is dynamically created as soon as the webpage renders.

Benefits

Severfield Plc Iconography and Design Development

Severfield’s new website now has the ability to be instantly updated by the Communications team. Also the new pages and areas can be added when required. The careers section sees an upload in excess of 70 applications every month which contributes towards a potential reduction in recruitment agency fees. Also the project section has been extremely well received and ensures that Projects do not have to be designed on a bespoke basis and then uploaded to the website manually. The sales team also has access to these Projects and is able to download and send by email or hand-out manually at sales meetings as required.

Iconography

TESTIMONIAL

We are delighted with the new website and how it has enabled us to take control of our content.  The team worked closely with us to achieve an outstanding result within a very short timeframe.

Carrie Mulligan: Group Communications Manager – Severfield plc