2025 In Review: An Exceptional Year for Castlegate

Delivering ROI on a £30 million plant fleet investment

Who we helped: Fairfax Plant Hire is an established provider of heavy plant machinery, trusted by customers nationwide for quality, safety, and excellent service.

The problem we solved: Following a £30 million investment in its fleet, Fairfax’s outdated website made it difficult for customers to find accurate specifications or see the range of machinery available. We designed and built a highly usable website featuring clear product categorisation, a bespoke plant-machinery finder, and strong trust signals throughout. The result is a platform that lets customers find information easily and positions Fairfax as the market leaders that they are.

What made it exceptional: Every product page includes downloadable specification sheets and operating manuals, serving both as a comprehensive brochure and a reputable industry resource. The ‘Add to my plant list’ feature allows users to submit shortlists directly for quotation, bringing in more enquiries and driving measurable returns on Fairfax’s fleet investment.

Read more about our work with Fairfax Plant Hire

Creating tailored customer journeys for affordable housing pioneers

Who we helped: Leeds Federated Housing Association was established in 1974 to provide safe, affordable housing, and today offers 5,000 homes to rent and buy across North Yorkshire.

The problem we solved: Leeds Federated’s previous website was poorly structured, which made it hard for customers to find information and time-consuming for Leeds Federated to maintain. We led an eight-week planning phase, collaborating with the site owners to define clear top-level information architecture and create distinct user journeys for tenants, buyers, and prospective residents. The new website enables faster access to information regardless of the user’s situation or starting point.

What made it exceptional: Leeds Federated serves two distinct customer groups with different expectations of the website. Current tenants need practical support, while prospective tenants and buyers want details about available housing. The new website balances the needs of both groups while delivering a consistent user experience.

Advancing the market-disrupting mission of a challenger brand

Who we helped: Shifta is the UK’s fastest-growing secondhand bicycle marketplace, created to reform the process of buying bicycles online and bring affordable transport to local communities.

The problem we solved: Shifta needed a bicycle marketplace that could support rapid growth while remaining accessible to a broad audience. Castlegate built a versatile multi-vendor platform that lets customers search within multiple categories and filter by over 100 variables. We developed a distinctive visual identity that suits Shifta’s disruptive ambitions while also conveying credibility to traditional customers.

What made it exceptional: This was the first website we’ve delivered that incorporated gamification into an e-commerce platform. Customers earn points across the site and enter them into raffles to win prizes, driving engagement with the brand and generating additional revenue for the business.

Learn more about our work with Shifta

Looking ahead to 2026

This year has stretched and sharpened us at Castlegate. Solving out-of-the-box problems when there is no off-the-shelf solution has taken ingenuity, creativity, and humanity from the whole team. It has also reinforced what we value most: strategic collaboration, technical precision, and long-term partnerships. As our clients’ challenges continue to grow in complexity, our focus for 2026 is clear: delivering secure, high-performance, accessible websites to organisations that need a trusted website partner to help them achieve their goals.

Want to be on the list next year?

If you’ve got a website project you’d like to discuss, get in touch on 01904 654 036 or email info@castlegateit.co.uk