Modernising the UK Land Registry's 1862 Register with Headless CMS
Background
HM Land Registry is a critical government institution responsible for maintaining land and property ownership records across the United Kingdom. One of its historical records, the 1862 Register, containing over 160Gb of imagery, presented unique challenges:
- Ageing Infrastructure: The system was running on outdated software that had reached the end of its security support.
- Compliance Requirements: UK public sector websites must comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA, ensuring digital inclusivity for all users and the GDS Design system.
- Performance Issues: The existing system was lagging behind in terms of modern web performance expectations.
With future GDS Design system and UK government WCAG compliance likely in the future, the challenge is
- Provide a way to incorporate these frontend changes with minimal effort
- Do so in a way that fit with the client expecations on costs for a compliance upgrade rather than request for new functionality
To address these challenges, HM Land Registry sought a solution that ensured security, accessibility, and easy future upgrades.
The Solution
PretaGov were engaged to upgrade the 1862 Register and proposed to split the site from a monolithic content management system, to a decoupled system where different components of the solution can be upgraded independently.
Our Headless CMS solution is powered by Plone 6.1 Headless with a Next.js frontend and Hydra Visual Editor. The register search is underpinned by Elasticsearch which provides performant, scalable, high quality search results.
By decoupling the presentation of information from its storage, retrieval and transmission, we were able to address the challenges of the existing system and produce a solution that can keep up with emerging technology and evolving policy in a cost effective way.
Results of Google Lighthouse following upgrade of the 1862 Register
Security Compliance Restored
The upgraded system is fully secure, addressing the potential vulnerabilities associated with using Plone 5.0 on python 2.7, both of which are no longer within security support.
The Plone 6.1 backend is projected to be supported until 2028 and the Headless architecture choice provides a simplified upgrade path for all components of the stack, to ensure long term security compliance.
WCAG 2.2 AA Compliance Achieved
The 1862 Register now meets all accessibility requirements, ensuring inclusivity and compliance with government policy. In achieving WCAG compliance, the frontend was integrated to the latest GOV.UK design system.
The site was independently audited and the results presented in the accessibility statement. As with the backend, the decoupled Headless architecture creates a simplified upgrade path for the frontend to keep up with GOV.UK design system releases, security and accessibility requirements.
Improved User Experience
By using unique our unique Visual Editor for Headless CMS (soon to be open sourced), any pages edits are drag and drop and direct edit, so users can quickly make the page they need.
- Faster load times
- Improved accessibility for users across various devices and internet speeds.
- A clean, modern interface enhanced overall usability.
- Better editor experience.
- Blocks based editor
- Drag and drop elements directly on the page
- Making edits directly in the page as it appears on the final website, while still be a Headless CMS
Quicker Development time
The flexibility of Headless CMS gave us an expansive choice of tools to develop the frontend and the choice to use Next.JS was driven by the requirements of the project, not the limitations of the underlying technology.
By reusing the same backend (Plone) we were able to minimise backend development and focus more effort towards improving the overall user experience for the visitors to the site.
Easier Future Upgrades
Decoupling the frontend from the CMS ensured that the most popular tech stack was used for the frontend (Next.js). The separation makes it possible to replace frontend or backend independently further insulating the application from future costly upgrades
We were able to integrate GOV.UK design system code with minimal intervention which led to both a simpler path to WCAG compliance and lowering of the long term total cost of ownership of the solution.
- The open-source, headless architecture supports easy updates and scaling for future needs.
- Costs associated with proprietary software were eliminated, providing long-term savings.
Improved Performance
As a result of utilising the latest Next.JS frontend stack we were able optimise site performance and
Flexibility on the frontend results in having more control to optimise the performance such as reducing bundle sizes or changing the methods for page rendering.
- Response times were significantly reduced
- CPU and memory reduced
- Increased ability to scale with the same hardware
- Utilizing Elasticsearch with facets resulted in faster searches using less memory
Conclusion
Through this project, HM Land Registry has successfully modernised one of its oldest digital records, achieving compliance, security, and efficiency. By adopting headless open-source technology, the institution is now better equipped to serve the public while adhering to government standards.
Would you like to learn more about how we can modernise your systems? Get in touch with us today.