East Suffolk: a Drupal platform built to last

East Suffolk approached us in December 2022 with a clear goal. They wanted to move their main gov.uk website to LocalGov Drupal and build a platform they could understand, shape, and ultimately own.

At the start, Drupal was new territory. Rather than rushing into a full build, they took a measured approach. Together, we created space to explore the platform, test its capabilities, and understand how managed hosting and ongoing support would fit into their long-term plans.

We built a LocalGov Drupal environment on AWS to support this. With a working platform in place, their team began learning by doing. Structured training sessions ran alongside focused development sprints, with early work centred on front-end customisation so the site could reflect East Suffolk’s identity and requirements.

From learning Drupal to owning it

From the outset, the goal was not just to deliver a working site. It was to build East Suffolk’s confidence so they could take control of the platform themselves.

We ran a series of hands-on, screen share training sessions designed around real tasks. This meant their team could apply what they learned immediately.

Core Drupal training

The training covered core Drupal workflows, including:

• Module installation and updates
• GitLab for version control, code management, and CI pipelines
• Content modelling with content types, taxonomies, and vocabularies
• Editorial workflows and granular permissions
• Theming fundamentals such as layouts, CSS, and base theme overrides
• Subsite architecture and its impact on search and navigation
• Geospatial content using Geofield with ArcGIS integration

Building a sustainable development approach

Alongside core training, we introduced the foundations of a maintainable Drupal development workflow:

• Composer for managing core, contributed modules, and dependencies
• Patches for extending contributed modules safely
• Configuration management for syncing changes across environments
• Git best practices to support clean, collaborative development

On the front-end side, we focused on giving their team control over presentation:

• Theme structure and custom themes
• Twig templates to shape markup
• Preprocess functions to pass data into templates
• Image styles for responsive delivery

Where needed, we supported module setup, including analytics, tagging, and security tools such as Google Analytics, Google Tag, SecKit, and two-factor authentication.

As new questions emerged, we worked through them together. Each session built confidence and reduced reliance on external support. As Graham Tungate, Web Development Manager at East Suffolk, put it, “Code Enigma have been like part of the team throughout the project.”

Shaping the platform around their needs

As East Suffolk’s confidence grew, the platform began to evolve with them.

Through an ongoing support model, they introduced development requests as their needs became clearer. Much of this work focused on improving the front end, including:

• Navigation and site structure
• Content blocks and layouts
• Homepage design
• Webforms and user journeys

Creating a site that reflects East Suffolk

LocalGov Drupal provided a strong starting point, but East Suffolk wanted a site that felt like their own.

We worked together to introduce:

• A custom footer featuring East Suffolk artwork
• Brand-aligned colour schemes
• Tailored visual components across key pages
• Building flexible, reusable content components

To support long-term flexibility, we used a component-driven approach:

• Paragraphs enabled modular content blocks within pages
• Single Directory Components kept templates, styles, and scripts organised

This gave East Suffolk more control over how content is structured and presented, without adding unnecessary complexity.

Supporting structured content and user navigation

A good example of this approach is the “Have your say” section:

• East Suffolk defined the content types and fields
• Code Enigma developed custom templates and page structures
• Faceted search was introduced to improve navigation

This created a clear, accessible way for users to explore community feedback.

Improving content accessibility and publishing workflows

We helped East Suffolk move away from static PDFs towards more accessible content.

• LocalGov Publications allowed PDFs to be presented as HTML pages
• An importer automated the process of bringing content into the CMS

This reduced manual effort and improved the user experience. During implementation, we identified and fixed a permissions issue in the importer module and contributed the improvement back to the community.

Giving greater control over media and files

East Suffolk needed more control over file management within Drupal.

By default, Drupal prevents files from being overwritten, which can create clutter over time. We introduced and configured modules that allow files to be replaced or removed safely through the CMS.

This gave their team tighter control over content and reduced long-term maintenance overhead. It also meant they could push the platform further, knowing they had the right support behind them.

As Tungate explained, “their directors, developers, system administrators and support team have been outstanding and have never been phased by any requests we have thrown at them.”

The outcome: a platform they can confidently own and run

By building on LocalGov Drupal, East Suffolk avoided starting from scratch. Instead, they worked from a proven foundation and shaped it to fit their needs.

Through a structured learning period, they moved from exploration to ownership. With hands-on support, regular development sprints, and clear documentation through detailed testing tickets, their team gained the confidence to make decisions and manage the platform themselves.

They are now live: https://www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/

More importantly, they fully own the build and how it evolves.

Built for stability and day-to-day reliability

Behind the scenes, the platform is supported by a managed infrastructure designed to reduce risk and operational overhead.

• Three environments: Live, Dev, and Stage
• Fully managed by Code Enigma’s systems administrators and CloudOps team
• Backups, monitoring, and alerting in place
• Secure user management and network controls

Kept secure, up to date, and performing

Ongoing maintenance ensures the platform remains stable as it grows.

• Regular Drupal updates across core, base themes, and supported modules
• Proactive management to maintain performance and security
• A platform that can evolve without introducing unnecessary risk

Ready to build a Drupal platform you can confidently own?

We work alongside your team to create stable, maintainable Drupal platforms without locking you into agency dependency.

• Clean, scalable architecture
• Transparent, collaborative delivery
• Long-term support that strengthens your team

Get in touch to build a Drupal platform your team can confidently own.