British Safety Council

Background

The British Safety Council (BSC) is a globally recognised membership organisation dedicated to improving occupational health, safety and environmental standards across more than 60 countries. 

Reading Room has supported BSC’s Umbraco platform for over five years, providing ongoing development, support and optimisation services. When we first onboarded the website, it was operating on Umbraco 7. To ensure long-term stability and security, we led an initial upgrade to Umbraco 8 and leveraged Umbraco’s Extended Long-Term Support (XLTS) provision to maintain compliance and security while planning a future-proofed platform strategy. 

As Umbraco 8 approached end of life, BSC required a full strategic upgrade to Umbraco 13 (LTS). This was not simply a technical version upgrade. The project involved: 

• Migration from uCommerce to Umbraco Commerce 

• Refactoring integrations and API endpoints 

• Scripted migration of content, media and SEO metadata 

• Preservation of the existing UX and brand experience 

• Re-architecting product, pricing and membership structures 

• Ensuring continuity of CRM and authentication services 

The objective was to deliver a secure, scalable, commerce-enabled platform that would support future innovation, including personalisation and enhanced reporting. 

Solution

Platform upgrade & architecture 

We executed a structured upgrade path from Umbraco 8 to Umbraco 13 LTS, providing BSC with a modern .NET Core architecture and long-term support roadmap. 

The migration included: 

• Scripted content and media migration using Umbraco core tooling 

• Full SEO metadata migration to preserve rankings 

• Rebuild using a component-based architecture 

• Implementation of the Block List Editor for flexible content management 

• Deployment within a load-balanced environment  

• The existing design and UX were preserved to ensure continuity for users, while the underlying platform was modernised. 

• Commerce transformation – uCommerce to Umbraco Commerce 

• A key strategic shift was the move from uCommerce to Umbraco Commerce. 

We delivered a proof of concept to map existing functionality to Umbraco Commerce, validating feature parity and identifying opportunities to simplify architecture. The product database was migrated into Umbraco Commerce, enabling tighter alignment between content and commerce. Removing previous segmentation between product and CMS content structures. 

Key enhancements included: 

• Native product variant handling and pricing 

• Structured SKU categorisation 

• Built-in bundling functionality  

• Simplified management of membership products and associated bundled items 

• Out-of-the-box Stripe and PayPal integrations via secure API configuration 

• Custom basket and checkout rebuild to maintain existing user journeys 

• Enhanced reporting capabilities from the commerce engine 

• Pricing logic was consolidated into Umbraco Commerce (previously split across systems), improving transparency and reducing CRM dependency for pricing management. 

Integrations & authentication 

BSC’s ecosystem required complex CRM and authentication integration. 

We rebuilt and updated API endpoints to ensure compatibility with the new architecture. When a membership or product is purchased: 

Product SKUs and transaction data are synchronised with the CRM 

Member records are updated in real time 

Permissions are applied to control content and product access 

A custom authentication server validates and authorises CRM contact records, enabling secure access to purchased resources, LMS materials and member-only content. 

Future-ready foundations 

The platform is now positioned for continued innovation, including: 

• Planned upgrade path to Umbraco 17 (LTS) 

• Introduction of Umbraco Engage for personalisation 

• Future enhancement of on-site search capability 

Impact

The Umbraco 13 upgrade has delivered measurable and strategic benefits: 

Improved security & longevity 

The upgrade transitioned the platform to a fully supported Umbraco LTS release, ensuring longterm security and stability. A modern .NET Core architecture was implemented to improve performance, maintainability and future compatibility. Load balanced hosting was introduced to enhance resilience and scalability, supporting the needs of a global membership audience.

Simplified commerce management 

The migration to Umbraco Commerce removed the need for custom commerce code, significantly reducing system complexity. Product variants, bundles and pricing structures are now easier to manage through a single, native platform. Improved reporting capabilities provide clearer commercial insight and greater operational confidence.

Improved operational efficiency 

Pricing logic was consolidated within Umbraco Commerce, removing duplication across systems and reducing dependency on the CRM. CRM synchronisation was streamlined to ensure reliable, realtime data exchange. Content and product relationships are now more efficiently managed, reducing manual effort and ongoing maintenance overhead.

Enhanced editor experience 

Editors benefit from a flexible, block-based content management approach that supports reuse and consistency. Structured document types and component-based architecture make content easier to manage and scale. The platform now supports future content expansion without increasing complexity for editorial teams.

Strategic growth enablement 

The modernised platform is ready to support personalisation through Umbraco Engage. Foundations have been laid for enhanced onsite search capability. The solution is future-proofed with a clear upgrade path aligned to Umbraco’s roadmap, enabling continued innovation and longterm growth.

Overview

Load test performance is particularly improved with the previous response time being 2626ms and successful response counts at 2643. After this project BSC saw a response time of only 1496ms and 4621 successful response counts.

The overall result is a secure, scalable and commercially optimised digital platform that enables the British Safety Council to continue delivering world-class health and safety services to a global membership base. While providing the agility required to evolve with future digital innovation. 

The architecture of the solution changed in a way the solution was simplified. There are much less servers involved in carrying out the requests for the website than there was. We utilised what was made available to us from Umbraco such as Examine.

Prior to the upgrade, UCommerce stored product information on an external Redis cache, that was accessed throughout the users journey on the site. Cutting this out reduced the overall CO2 footprint for the site by removing the need for a server/service hosting the cache.