At Cogworks, we have always believed in the transformative power of digital design and development. As a leading Umbraco agency in the UK and an Umbraco Partner, our journey began with a mission to deliver innovative, user-centric solutions that drive measurable change. Our expertise spans across digital product design, web development, cloud solutions, and AI consultancy, ensuring we provide comprehensive services that cater to the evolving needs of our clients. We pride ourselves on our commitment to honesty, communication, and community. These core values guide every project we undertake, from initial consultation to final delivery. By fostering a collaborative environment, we work closely with our clients to understand their unique challenges and craft bespoke solutions that not only meet but exceed their expectations.
Cogworks
Gold MemberA digital consultancy and build studio that keeps you moving forward. Your partner for the plan, the build and the ongoing results.
About
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HEADQUARTERS
- ADDRESS: TechSpace, 140 Goswell Road, London, EC1V 7DY
- PHONE: 44 2089383622
- E-MAIL: [email protected]
We translate brand strategy into digital experiences that perform. From design systems for Shawbrook Bank to accessible UI for Russell-Cooke, creative decisions are always tied to brand and business.
Service Expertise
We design digital products that keep getting better after launch. From the Shawbrook design system to Canopius’ quote-and-bind platform, every product decision is grounded in research.
We build SEO best practices into every platform from the ground up. Clean IA, structured content, technical foundations and GEO optimisation baked in, not bolted on afterwards.
Service Expertise
We build secure, scalable software for complex organisations on .NET, Azure and Umbraco. From FinTech platforms to global enterprise systems, we keep building long after launch.
Research-led UX design for complex organisations. We run audits, IA workshops and user testing before anything is built, so every design decision is grounded in evidence, not assumption.
Human-centred web design for complex organisations. From IA workshops through to polished UI, every design decision is research-led, accessibility-first and tied to measurable business outcomes.
Umbraco Gold Partner building secure, accessible, high-performance websites on .NET, Azure and React. A-rated security and 90 Lighthouse scores are standard, not aspirational.
We built Shawbrook Bank a multi-brand design system on Umbraco that launches new acquisitions fast, including mortgage broker tools.
Sector Expertise
- Financial Advisors
- Wealth Management
- Brokerages
We delivered approximately 500 sites across 50 countries for Reckitt Benckiser, spanning brands including Dettol, Durex and Veet. One unified Umbraco platform, adapted for every market.
For Canopius, a Lloyd’s specialist insurer, we built a marine war quote-and-bind platform on Azure. Policy management time cut by 60% and quotes generated in under two minutes.
Sector Expertise
- Specialty Insurance
For Foster Partners, we built a global intranet on Azure Cognitive Search connecting 1,500 staff across 13 studios. Complex enterprise software, delivered simply.
Sector Expertise
- Cloud Computing
- Software Development
- IT Services & Consulting
We rebuilt Russell-Cooke’s platform from the ground up on Umbraco, restructuring their IA around how clients actually find legal support. Organic traffic up 19% and new monthly users up 125%.
Sector Expertise
- Business Law
- Corporate Law
- Employment Law
- Family Law
- Litigation and Dispute Resolution
- Real Estate Law
- Tax Law
We are currently redesigning Salt and rebuilding The Lux Collective following discovery research phases. Delivering high-end digital experiences for luxury resort and hospitality brands that match the
Sector Expertise
- Luxury Travel & Hospitality
For Prostate Cancer UK, we rebuilt a public health platform on Umbraco and Azure handling millions of users. Online donation income up 29% in 8 weeks. Hosting costs down 88%.
Sector Expertise
- Charities
- Health & Medical Research
- Religion & Faith-Based Organizations
Case Studies
Prostate Cancer UK. A Platform Worthy of the Mission.
Prostate Cancer UK. A Platform Worthy of the Mission.
The Challenge
Prostate Cancer UK’s website was slow, struggled under national campaign traffic, and the team had lost confidence in what it could do for them. For a public health charity relied on by millions, that was not good enough.
Our Approach
We started with a single high-stakes page: the donation page. Reduced cognitive load, clearer hierarchy, better emotional framing. Within eight weeks online donation income rose 29%. That proof of concept became the case for a full platform rebuild on Umbraco and Azure, engineered to handle national campaign traffic without missing a beat.
The Results
29% increase in online donation income within 8 weeks. 4 million Risk Checker uses since 2020. Hosting costs down 88%. Infrastructure emissions down 80%. The platform has since handled its biggest ever traffic spike without issue.
(We work with our clients continuously so the completion date reflects the most recent project completion)
Client: Prostate Cancer UK
Industry: Nonprofit
Sector Expertise: Health & Medical Research
Location: London, UK
Technologies: Umbraco CMS, Azure, CogFlare, Front-End Development, Accessibility
Completed: Feb 2026
S&W Group. New Chapter. Familiar Foundations.
S&W Group. New Chapter. Familiar Foundations.
The Challenge
S&W Group emerged as an independent professional services firm under a new name. They needed a credible, high-performing platform live fast, without losing the trust and authority built over years. Starting from scratch would have taken too long and carried unnecessary risk.
Our Approach
We built on the proven Evelyn Partners platform foundation we already knew inside out, adapted for S&W’s new brand identity. Thousands of articles and content pieces migrated cleanly into the new structure. A-rated security and Google Lighthouse scores above 90 from day one.
The Results
A valuable inbound website lead arrived within 24 hours of launch. The partnership is now in its next phase, with a structured programme of personalisation, lead generation and AI improvements planned and scoped together.
“This has been one of the most enjoyable website projects I have worked on. Constant communication prevented any small challenges taking over the project.” Graeme Smillie, Head of Marketing Services, S&W Group
Client: S&W Group
Industry: Finance
Sector Expertise: Asset Management
Location: London, UK
Technologies: Umbraco CMS, .NET, Azure, Front-End Development, Content Migration, Personalisation
Completed: Jun 2025
Agency News
Cogworks launches free Umbraco V13 to V17 upgrade guide ahead of December 2026 End-of-Life deadline
Cogworks launches free Umbraco V13 to V17 upgrade guide ahead of December 2026 End-of-Life deadline
For organisations on Umbraco V13, it’s time to plan and get ahead.
The Umbraco V13 End-of-Life deadline in December 2026 is not just a compliance problem. It is a capability question. For high-trust organisations in professional services, financial services and the charity sector, the answer matters more than most.
To help those organisations work through it, Cogworks has launched a free planning guide: The Umbraco 13 to 17 Upgrade Planning Guide for High-Trust Organisations. Written by Kas Iqbal, Head of Delivery; Imran Haider, Head of Development; and Subhrata Sinha, Project Manager at Cogworks, it draws on the team’s collective experience in planning and delivering hundreds of upgrades over 18 years of a dedicated Umbraco partnership.
The timing is deliberate. Microsoft .NET 8, the framework underpinning V13, reaches end of support in November 2026. Full Umbraco V13 End-of-Life follows a month later. After that, vulnerabilities go unpatched, third-party tools move on, and the platform becomes progressively harder to justify to boards, regulators and auditors.
For high-trust organisations, an Umbraco upgrade is not just a version change, it is a chance to reduce risk, improve capability and create a stronger foundation for what comes next. The organisations that move early will have more control over cost, timeline and roadmap. – Adam Shallcross
The guide covers the three routes from V13 to V17; what to have in place before a project begins; what V17 unlocks for editorial, development, and leadership teams; eight questions worth asking any upgrade agency; and whether it is worth waiting for Umbraco V18, and why the answer is no.
V17 is the first version of Umbraco built with AI as a genuine part of the platform.
That includes AI writing assistance inside the Backoffice, developer tooling that connects AI directly to the Umbraco Management API, and a governance layer that gives regulated organisations control over which models are used and what rules apply. More exciting capabilities are arriving later in 2026.
The guide is free to download at www.wearecogworks.com/innerworks
If you’re ready to discuss their upgrade path, you can chat directly with an Umbraco upgrade expert at Cogworks.
Agency: Cogworks
Published: Jun 2026
Author: Cogworks
AgentRun and Other Features: How Umbraco Version 17 Is Changing How We Approach Enterprise Content Management
AgentRun and Other Features: How Umbraco Version 17 Is Changing How We Approach Enterprise Content Management
Adam Shallcross is CEO and Founder of Cogworks, a London-based Digital Consultancy and Build studio with over 500 Umbraco projects delivered across almost two decades.
Adam is clear. Umbraco Version 17 has many similarities to its predecessor, Umbraco Version 13, but its AI capabilities are not comparable, and in an enterprise setting, that’s a huge advantage now.
Umbraco Version 17 is the most significant release in years, typical of a Long-Term-Support (LTS) version that comes out after an increasingly innovative few years in the digital space.
AgentRun, built by Cogworks CEO and Founder Adam Shallcross, is just one of the many reasons to upgrade from Umbraco V13 to Umbraco Version 17 before this year’s December 2026 deadline.
What is AgentRun for Umbraco Version 17
AgentRun is an open-source package built and contributed to the Umbraco ecosystem by CEO and Founder Adam Shallcross.
As Umbraco Contributing Gold Partners, contribution is integral to how the Cogworks organisation operates, helping to improve the Umbraco user experience and internal workflow efficiency, rather than relying on locked, proprietary, and expensive systems that no one can access.
AgentRun is free to access for those on Umbraco Version 17 and can be especially helpful for large enterprise content editing teams who need precision, guidance, seamless backoffice experiences, strategic oversight and even mass updates to complex content structures in seconds (with human oversight of course).
In a recent Cogworks article on the Umbraco Version 17 editing experience, Adam described how the new functionality can play out in the professional services space. Cogworks has specialised in working with professional services organisations on Umbraco since 2008.
AgentRun use case for professional services and the regulated sector: a use case
Professional services, teams naturally evolve and change; sometimes, the website can’t keep up. Hundreds of staff profiles, new hires, leavers, promotions, headshots, changing practice areas and so on. In most firms, keeping on top of this falls to whoever has time” – Adam Shallcross
Adam’s Marketplace integration solves this pain point
An agent reads every profile directly from your CMS, checks it against the criteria you’ve defined, and produces a structured report of what needs attention. Hours become seconds, and you choose what to publish. Available on Umbraco Version 17, it goes far beyond perfecting people pages.
Other use cases for AgentRun:
- Audit SEO metadata across your entire site
- Check content freshness and flag pages that haven’t been updated
- Review brand voice compliance across hundreds of pages
- Scan for accessibility issues
- Run content model health checks.
This is one of many integrations available on Umbraco Version 17, and a good example of how much has accelerated since Umbraco Version 13.
More Umbraco Version 17 features for content management
AgentRun is one piece of a much larger picture.
Umbraco Version 17 also brings a rebuilt backoffice editor experience, native AI assistance through Umbraco.AI, which generates alt text, SEO metadata and content suggestions directly from the page your editor is already working on, and a governance layer that gives regulated organisations control over which AI models are used, where they operate and what rules they follow.
For a digital leader managing content at scale, across multiple teams, with compliance obligations, that combination of speed, quality and auditability is huge.
V13 reaches end of life in December 2026. The question worth sitting with isn’t whether V13 still works; it’s what you’re leaving on the table by staying on it.
Read more on the V17 editing experience and new features at Innerworks, Cogworks tech blog. Want to discuss your V13-to-V17 upgrade path? Talk to Cogworks upgrade experts.
https://www.wearecogworks.com/innerworks/articles/umbraco-v13-to-v17-upgrade-content-editing
Agency: Cogworks
Published: May 2026
Author: Cogworks