Align Property Partners
A professional identity and new digital platform that allows Align to better speak to their clients.
Solutions
2026
Uniting Align’s services on a new digital platform that elevates a cohesive brand, ensuring a smooth journey for their clients.
Client
Align Property Partners
Sector
Property
The Goal
Align set out to create a single, cohesive brand that truly reflects its status as the UK’s leading building design consultancy and public sector specialist. The ambition was to unite every strand of the business under one clear identity, so clients would recognise Align as the integrated home of architecture, surveying, engineering, project management and sustainability expertise.
At the heart of the project sat three core values: collaboration and expertise, excellence and accountability, and sustainability and innovation. With 180 specialists working across multiple disciplines, the new brand needed to show how Align operates as one team, taking full ownership of every project and delivering precise, compliant and high-quality solutions. It also had to communicate a firm commitment to a greener future, integrating sustainable approaches and embracing industry advancements that deliver long-term impact for public sector clients and communities.
On the digital side, the goal was to replace two separate websites with a single, sleek platform that felt professional, intuitive and unmistakably Align. The new site had to serve the organisation’s primary audience in the public sector, guiding them quickly to building design and infrastructure services, while also providing a clear, attractive route for businesses interested in real estate.
The Challenge & Strategy
Multiple disciplines aligned under one brand
Before the project began, Align’s brand and digital presence were fragmented. They operated under two main areas, with a completely separate website for surveyors. Many clients did not realise that the surveying business and the wider consultancy were connected, which potentially limited the perception of Align’s scale and capability. The separate sites looked different, worked differently and spoke in slightly different voices, causing confusion and distancing the business from their ambition to be seen as a single, integrated consultancy.
The central challenge was how to bring the surveyor side of the company back under the main Align brand without losing clarity or trust. Internally, the brand had to be approved by a board with many stakeholders, which required a careful, well-explained process and clear visual and strategic options that everyone could stand behind. Externally, competitor activity and market expectations reinforced the need for change, as Align looked to strengthen their standing as the leading building design consultancy and public sector consultant by including both areas of the business under one roof rather than separately.
Strategically, we decided to evolve rather than reinvent. The focus was to take what already worked in the existing brand and push it further, ensuring greater cohesion and relevance while maintaining continuity for long-standing clients. For the website, the strategy centred on building a unified information architecture with a clear landing page, an intuitive user journey and navigation that made building design, infrastructure and property content easy to find.
Our Solution
The branding work began with open, collaborative conversations about Align’s values, audience and goals. Because there was already an established brand, our role was to refine it so that it better reflected how the organisation was perceived and where they wanted to go. These discussions identified what needed to stay, what needed to shift and how the brand could be advanced without losing recognition among public sector partners.
Align wanted their trusted blue colour to remain part of their visual identity, so rather than removing it, we expanded the colour palette to create a more versatile system, allowing different sectors and service areas to have their own associated colour families while still feeling distinctly Align. We explored two brand routes, one closely aligned to the original logo and one more experimental, before combining the logomark from the bolder direction with the wordmark from the safer route. The result was a refined logo and updated visual system that felt clean, professional and confidently modern. Throughout the project, feedback and iteration ensured the final identity felt focused, aligned with the board’s expectations and true to Align’s long term vision, providing a strong foundation for the new website and digital experience.
On the technical side, the website brought two previously separate platforms together under one roof. Working from a detailed sitemap, we crafted a clear landing page and user journey, with intuitive navigation for building design, infrastructure and real estate content. We also built an API integration that pulls external property data into the site in real time, updating every sixty minutes to ensure accurate, current listings. Throughout, we followed the refreshed brand closely, using Align’s colours, fonts and iconography consistently to create a digital experience that looks and feels like one unified brand.
Defining Objectives
The research phase focused on how public sector organisations and property partners were already interacting with Align, and how they moved between the separate websites and service offerings. We wanted to understand how they perceived the business, where confusion arose and what information they prioritised when evaluating a building design consultancy. The primary objective was to clarify Align’s positioning as the public sector consultant, while making it effortless for these audiences to find the services, case studies and property information they needed.
By mapping user journeys across building design, infrastructure and property content, we identified key touchpoints and expectations. This research guided decisions on navigation labels, page hierarchy and calls to action, ensuring that every visit to the site supports easy discovery and confident decision-making.
ADVANTAGES
These insights highlighted how the previous split between two websites created friction and diluted Align’s story. Understanding where users stalled or became unsure allowed us to remove unnecessary steps, simplify routes to key content and present the organisation as a single, integrated partner. Align gained a clearer narrative around their multidisciplinary expertise, which helps public sector clients quickly grasp that one consultancy is responsible for architecture, surveying, engineering, project management and sustainability.
The research also reinforced the importance of performance and reliability, particularly around the property search function. Knowing that visitors often arrive with a specific need allowed us to prioritise speed, clarity and up-to-date information, so that users feel confident acting on what they see.
Be Brave
We made brave choices where they would meaningfully advance the brand and user experience. Bringing Align Property Partners and Align Chartered Surveyors onto one website was a bold move, but by pairing a unified visual system with clear navigation and dedicated content sections, we ensured this integration felt natural rather than forced. Expanding the colour palette and refining layouts created a stronger digital presence that still felt distinctly Align.
Be Human
Human-centred design shaped both tone of voice and interface. We avoided jargon and focused on accessible language that speaks directly to public sector teams and property partners. Key actions, such as the available properties pop-up and clear calls to explore building design and infrastructure, were crafted as simple, helpful prompts that respect the user’s time and make it easy to move from interest to enquiry.
Be Agile
The project was iterative from start to finish. The sitemap and page structure evolved through collaborative planning sessions, allowing us to respond to emerging needs and refine the user journey as insights surfaced. On the development side, our team tuned performance, checked data refresh times and tested the property search flow repeatedly, making incremental improvements that ensured the site would perform strongly from day one.
Through strategy, innovation and creativity, we take you on a journey of discovery and transformation that leaves a lasting impression and drives behaviour.
The Result
Since launch, Align have seen both tangible metrics and meaningful shifts in perception. Internally, the team has shared brilliant feedback, describing the new brand as more cohesive, more professional, and noting how every area of the business now feels represented in the same way. The organisation is more confident in presenting themselves as the leading public sector consultant, with one clear brand and website to support that claim.
From a performance perspective, the new site has delivered impressive growth. In the six months after launch, Align recorded a 36.2% increase in organic search sessions, a 3.96% rise in engaged sessions and a 40.05% increase in website events. These figures show that the platform is not only more attractive, but also more effective at driving meaningful interaction and enquiry. Visitors have commented on the clean feel of the brand and how much easier the site is to use, particularly praising the faster load times and the more appealing, intuitive property search area.
One of the biggest wins has been successfully bringing Align Property Partners and Align Chartered Surveyors together on a single site without it feeling disjointed. Every part of the business now exists within one clean and professional story, reinforcing Align’s reputation across North Yorkshire and beyond, and laying strong foundations for ongoing partnership, future enhancements and continued growth.
Fishtank have been a pleasure to work with from the outset. Their team took the time to understand who Align are and what we wanted to achieve through our website and wider marketing presence. They brought forward a variety of ideas that went above and beyond what we thought could be possible, maintaining a collaborative and transparent approach throughout the process, ensuring we had visibility and input at every stage.
Kelly Bellerson
Bid and Marketing Manager – Align
