When you’ve just moved house, you think a lot about how things fit together - the rooms, the electrics, the strange light switch that controls nothing. Somewhere between unpacking boxes and discovering that my “hallway” switch actually turns on the garden floodlight, I realised something:
Designing digital services isn’t that different from building a home
Both can be exciting, hopeful, and transformative.
Both can also become confusing (and expensive) very quickly if you don’t have a plan.
That’s why Architecture & Design exists at Essex County Council; to help the organisation make thoughtful, sustainable decisions about change.
Why A&D Matters Right Now
We’re in a period where everything is moving - our priorities, our technology, how we work, and what residents expect from us. With so much change happening at once, it’s easy for things to end up disconnected.
A bit like building an extension without checking whether the foundations can take the weight. Our role is to help the organisation pause long enough to ask:
- What problem are we really solving?
- Is this the right solution?
- Will it still work when the next team, service, or system joins the picture?
It’s not about slowing things down. It’s about making sure we don’t create solutions that feel great on day one but fall apart when we try to scale them.
Our vision is a council where:
- People, processes, data, and technology actually connect
- Decisions are informed, not reactive
- Services feel joined up, not held together by good intentions and duct tape
To do that, we focus on:
- Aligning work to organisational priorities so we build the right things in the right order
- Solving whole problems, especially at the joins where services usually break
- Supporting confident decisionmaking with insight, evidence and proven patterns
- Championing reuse so we learn from what already works
- Bringing people together early so issues are found before they become expensive surprises
At its core, Architecture & Design reduces risk, increases clarity, and helps Essex move forward sustainably - not chaotically.
The Teams Building Our Digital “Home”
We’ve brought four specialist teams together. Each plays a distinct role in helping ECC make good decisions and build services that work for real people.
🧱 Architecture
They look at the plot, the foundations, and the longterm stability of what we’re building.
Their focus is not just “Will this look good now?” but “Will this still stand in ten years - and can we extend it without knocking half of it down?”
🤝 Business Relationship Management
BRMs are the people who talk to service leads before a single nail is hammered.
They work with teams to understand their real needs - not just the first idea that sounds promising. They make sure we’re building the right thing, not just something that looks good on paper.
✍️ Content Design
Content Designers are the ones who label the switches.
They translate complexity into clarity so residents and staff don’t get lost, frustrated, or stuck. Every piece of clear content prevents confusion, reduces contact centre demand, and helps a service work the way it’s meant to.
🏡 Design
User Centred Designers walk through our “house” like a real person would:
- Is the front door wide enough?
- Do you have to take a strange route to get where you actually need to be?
- Why is the bathroom there?
They bring lived experience into the process so we don’t create services that are perfect on paper but baffling in reality.
Designing for Today, Tomorrow and the Future
When these teams come together, they don’t just help build something that stands up.
They help build something that:
- Makes sense
- Works for residents and staff
- Can grow and adapt as needs change
- Doesn’t fall over when the next piece of technology arrives
Because digital services, like homes, should evolve with the people who use them.
Architecture & Design is here to make sure that as ECC changes, we’re not just adding rooms - we’re building a home. A home that is stable, flexible and futureready. Anyone can throw up a wall. Our job is to make sure it’s facing the right way…and that if someone looks worried, you probably stop building.
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