A new digital foundation for a leading North East design studio.
Acre Design is a residential architectural studio based in Newcastle, specialising in high-quality home extensions and renovations across the North East. Despite a strong reputation and consistent client demand, their previous Elementor-built website was holding the business back. It struggled to convey the studio’s professionalism, suffered from slow performance, and was difficult to maintain, burdened by unnecessary plugins and bloated code that made even small updates time-consuming.
The brief was clear: create a technically robust, visually refined platform that accurately represents Acre Design’s brand and supports sustainable business growth.
Our approach
We began by understanding Acre’s core audience, affluent homeowners seeking trusted expertise for significant home improvement projects. From this insight, we mapped the full user journey from first impression to enquiry, ensuring the new site guided visitors with clarity, confidence, and purpose.
Our priorities were threefold:
- Clarity, through refined navigation and a clean, architectural visual hierarchy.
- Credibility, through professional presentation and content that communicates expertise.
- Conversion, through improved user flow, clear calls to action, and optimised enquiry forms.
Technical rebuild
The existing Elementor structure relied heavily on third-party plugins, creating performance issues, maintenance challenges, and security vulnerabilities. We rebuilt the site from the ground up using lightweight, standards, compliant code, eliminating plugin bloat and replacing it with a streamlined, maintainable foundation.
The result is a fast, SEO-friendly website that’s built to last. Accessibility, speed, and stability were placed at the heart of the rebuild, ensuring the site performs flawlessly across devices and is easy for the client to update independently.
Key deliverables
- Complete responsive rebuild with custom, lightweight architecture
- Streamlined user journey and clear content hierarchy
- Modern, understated visual design aligned with Acre’s brand
- Dedicated service and portfolio pages for improved discoverability
- Integrated enquiry capture with enhanced form UX
- On-page SEO setup, including structured headings and meta optimisation
Results and impact
- Acre Design now has a digital platform that performs as well as it looks.
- Significantly faster load times and improved Core Web Vitals
- Simplified content management with no reliance on page builders
- Higher-quality enquiries through clearer user pathways and CTAs
- Consistent brand presentation across all pages
The new website reflects the craftsmanship and precision of Acre Design’s architectural work, providing a stable, high-performing foundation for future growth. It’s a strong example of Hague & Gray’s ability to blend creative design with technical excellence, rebuilding from first principles to deliver clarity, confidence, and measurable performance.