Background
Peabody New Homes, the dedicated sales brand of one of the UK’s longest-established housing associations, needed a complete website transformation to support its vision of making the home-buying journey more accessible, transparent, and engaging.
Their existing website was becoming outdated and no longer reflected the quality or ambition of the brand. Prospective buyers were not getting the smooth, confidence-building experience they needed: the information architecture wasn’t optimised for easy browsing and property discovery, and there was a clear opportunity to improve lead capture and nurturing. On top of that, the site’s performance and accessibility fell short of modern expectations, especially on mobile, where most users began their search, creating friction at the very start of the customer journey.
This challenge mattered because Peabody New Homes needed a digital experience that could showcase a growing portfolio of developments, convert interest into enquiries more effectively, and protect trust in the brand. However, the previous approach had key limitations: an ageing site experience that couldn’t meet modern standards for speed, accessibility, and mobile usability, and a lack of a scalable foundation to support future growth and integrated lead management.
Solution
Spindogs delivered a full redesign and rebuild of the Peabody New Homes website, using a structured, collaborative approach across Discovery, Design, Development, and Delivery to align Peabody’s digital, marketing, and sales stakeholders throughout.
The solution combined buyer-first UX with a future-ready technical platform. In Discovery, we ran workshops and interviews to map the needs of first-time buyers, Shared Ownership applicants, and private purchasers, then used analytics and heat-maps to pinpoint friction (confusing filters, inconsistent content, unclear CTAs). Those insights shaped a mobile-first UX with simplified navigation, dynamic property search filters, stronger brand storytelling, and accessibility-first design to meet WCAG 2.2 AA.
Technically, we built on Umbraco 13 to give Peabody a scalable CMS with reusable modular components, hosted on Microsoft Azure for performance and resilience. We integrated the site with Microsoft Dynamics CRM to automate enquiry capture and routing, supported by a custom integration layer to manage complex data flows and ensure leads reached the right regional teams quickly. Tight launch timescales were handled through phased deployment, prioritising core journeys first, then rolling out enhancements post-launch, alongside structured content migration and governance to maintain consistency.
Impact
The new Peabody New Homes website delivered a clear step change in usability, engagement, and operational efficiency, while also supporting Peabody’s wider social mission.
Improved engagement: Within the first three months, bounce rate dropped and users spent longer exploring development pages and moving further through the journey.
Higher-quality leads: Lead conversions increased, supported by clearer forms and automated enquiry capture and routing, helping sales teams follow up faster and more consistently.
Stronger visibility: Search performance improved for Shared Ownership content through optimised landing pages and structured data, helping more relevant users find the right information at the right time.
Internal autonomy: Peabody’s team gained greater control over content through training and improved tooling, reducing reliance on external support and enabling sustainable digital growth.
Accessibility and inclusion: Enhanced accessibility and digital inclusivity means fairer access to home ownership information, important for a housing association serving diverse audiences.
Environmental responsibility: A cloud-based hosting environment reduces infrastructure overheads and energy consumption compared with traditional on-premise approaches.
Delivered on time and within budget, the platform now acts as a benchmark for user-centred housing sector design, balancing brand, performance, accessibility, and long-term sustainability.
