The Challenge

The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) is the UK government’s centre of expertise for infrastructure and major projects, reporting to the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury. RedRock was engaged to support the IPA in understanding and improving the Government Project Delivery Hub (The Hub), a centralised knowledge platform launched in beta in 2022. The Hub provides project delivery professionals across government with access to tools, frameworks, learning materials, and links to related services.

Although The Hub had high traffic, user engagement was low, indicating untapped potential. The IPA wanted to:

• Understand the needs and experiences of different user groups.
• Identify challenges users faced when navigating the Hub and related services.
• Assess whether the current CMS was suitable or if an alternative would better meet user and technical needs.

Our Approach

RedRock ran a 10-week discovery phase aligned to the Government Digital Service (GDS) Service Standard, combining user research, service and content design, and technical architecture review. Key elements included:

• Recruiting 50+ participants across government departments, devolved governments, non-HMG, and private sector organisations.
• Ensuring diversity in backgrounds, accessibility needs, and roles.
• Conducting remote interviews using tailored discussion guides to maximise insight from busy and geographically dispersed participants.
• Reviewing content, information architecture, accessibility, and technology to identify opportunities for improvement.

Key Capabilities Used:

User research, content design, service design, technical architecture review, accessibility and inclusion expertise, stakeholder management, delivery management.

Outcomes and Value Delivered

The discovery provided the IPA with actionable insights to enhance usability, accessibility, and strategic value. Deliverables included:

• Discovery report summarising findings and recommendations.
• User personas, “As Is” and “To Be” journey maps, and user sentiment analysis.
• Accessibility and digital inclusion survey results.
• Information architecture and content review with improvement recommendations.
• Technical review and CMS evaluation.

The findings led to practical recommendations across all workstreams, including:

• Further research priorities
• Hub access, content, design, and service journey improvements
• Information architecture, data, hosting, and technology enhancements
• Recommendations for IPA operating model improvements

Why This Matters To Future Clients

This project demonstrates how a structured discovery phase can uncover real user needs, highlight technical and design opportunities, and provide evidence-based options to guide the next stage of digital service development. By combining user-centred research with technical review, RedRock helped IPA make informed decisions for a platform supporting high-value, cross-government delivery.