Book a call
Service: Drupal development

Drupal development built to last.

Your CMS should let your editors publish, satisfy your IT and cyber security teams and cost nothing in licences. Our UK Drupal agency has designed, built, migrated and supported Drupal platforms for more than 18 years.

Experience
18+ years with Drupal
What we do
Drupal development services: builds, upgrades, migrations and support
Standards
GDPR-safe and WCAG 2.1 AA
Licence fees
None, because Drupal is open source
1. The problem

A CMS that holds you back.

Problem statement

Your editors wait on developers for simple changes. Your IT and cyber security teams worry about what’s unpatched. Finance pays licence fees for features you don’t use.

Common symptoms
  1. 1

    Publishing bottlenecks

    Simple updates need a developer.

  2. 2

    Security as an afterthought

    Patches and permissions wait until someone remembers.

  3. 3

    Licence creep

    Per-seat and per-site fees grow with you.

  4. 4

    Stuck on old versions

    Upgrades feel so risky that they keep slipping.

2. How we help

Tested before it ships.

Drupal consultants, designers and developers sit in one team. Automated tests and continuous deployment check each release before it reaches you.

  1. 1

    Consult

    Plan the architecture, content model and integrations up front.

  2. 2

    Design

    Give your editors a component-based design system to build pages with.

  3. 3

    Engineer

    Ship tested, reviewed code through continuous integration and deployment.

  4. 4

    Evolve

    Keep upgrades, security patches and new features on a predictable cadence.

3. What changes

Marketing, IT, security and finance all win.

What you get
18+
years designing and building on Drupal, since 2008
0
software licence fees, and no lock-in
100
Lighthouse scores for accessibility and SEO on every page of Adelco’s Drupal site
4. Why Drupal

A CMS with the range to grow.

Drupal is a content management system and a development framework in one. It has been in active development since 2001, backed by a community of more than a million developers, designers and specialists, and governments, universities and global brands run their websites on it. We try other CMSs as part of our research and keep choosing Drupal.

What you get
  1. 1

    Open source

    A GPL-licensed core and modules, so you pay no licence fees and own your platform.

  2. 2

    Modular

    Reuse functionality across sites and change it as your needs change.

  3. 3

    Multisite

    Run several brands or markets from one secure platform.

  4. 4

    Multilingual

    Translate and localise content for each market you serve.

  5. 5

    A framework as well as a CMS

    Custom content types, workflows, APIs and integrations are built on Drupal itself, so complex requirements don’t need a second system.

  6. 6

    Accessible

    Sites built to WCAG 2.1 AA, so more people can use them and you avoid legal headaches.

5. For your teams

Editors in control.

Your marketing and comms teams update pages, launch campaigns and test ideas without waiting for a developer, while your IT and cyber security teams keep the governance they need.

How it works
  1. 1

    Components and templates

    Editors build pages from a design system, so your brand stays consistent across teams and markets.

  2. 2

    Roles and workflows

    User roles, approval workflows and audit logs keep publishing compliant.

  3. 3

    Connected

    Drupal links to your CRM, marketing automation and analytics, so your teams work from the same customer data.

  4. 4

    Your own design

    A bespoke theme and functionality, so your site doesn’t look or behave like anyone else’s.

6. Security

Security your cyber team can sign off.

Drupal has a dedicated Security Team who investigate reported vulnerabilities, work with maintainers on fixes and publish coordinated security advisories, so you hear about a problem with the fix ready. We apply those fixes to your platform on a set schedule.

What protects you
  1. 1

    The Drupal Security Team

    Security specialists who review reported issues in Drupal core and contributed modules and coordinate their release.

  2. 2

    Security advisories

    Fixes are announced in public advisories with a risk score, so your security team can see what changed and why.

  3. 3

    Covered modules

    Contributed modules with a stable release can opt into the Security Team’s coverage. We favour covered modules and review any custom code ourselves.

  4. 4

    Fine-grained access

    Roles and permissions control who can see, edit and publish each part of the site, with two-factor authentication for editors.

  5. 5

    Patched on a schedule

    Our support team applies security updates weekly or fortnightly, checked against each new advisory.

  6. 6

    Hardened hosting

    Read-only deployments on Upsun’s certified cloud, with Cloudflare blocking attacks before they reach your site.

Secure hosting →
7. Drupal migration

Drupal migration with nothing lost.

Drupal 7 lost community support in January 2025, and Drupal 8 and 9 before it. If your site still runs on one of them, you get no security fixes. We audit what you have, then move your content, users and integrations to a supported Drupal release.

How it works
  1. 1

    Audit first

    A website systems audit finds your Drupal version, custom code, modules and integrations, and what each needs before the move.

  2. 2

    Upgrade or rebuild

    A Drupal 8 or 9 site can often be upgraded in place to Drupal 10 or 11. A Drupal 7 site is rebuilt, keeping your content and dropping what you no longer use.

  3. 3

    Content and data migration

    Pages, media, users and records move across in scripted migrations that can be tested and run again before launch day.

  4. 4

    From other platforms

    Moving from WordPress or another CMS? Your content comes across the same way.

  5. 5

    Kept current

    After the move, a support plan keeps core and modules patched, so you don’t face the same cliff again.

Website systems audit →
8. Why Pivale

The Drupal agency that stays.

You work with in-house Drupal developers and consultants who have built on Drupal since 2008, from the first workshop to years of support after launch. The team who builds your platform is the team who looks after it.

What you get
  1. 1

    18+ years of Drupal

    Multisites, commerce, portals and integrations, built and kept current through each new major version of Drupal.

  2. 2

    In-house Drupal developers

    UK-based employees, with consultancy, design and engineering in one team.

  3. 3

    Upsun Gold Partners

    Your Drupal platform runs on enterprise hosting we know inside out.

  4. 4

    Drupal support that answers

    Your calls go straight to a developer who knows your site, and you can leave with three months’ notice.

Drupal support →
See it in practiceAll work →
The suite of Virtus Health websites shown on a variety of devices.
Virtus HealthTwelve sites, one family
The problem
Fertility clinic websites in Europe, Australia and Singapore, each branded its own way.
The solution
One Drupal multisite platform with a shared pattern library, so each clinic keeps their own brand.
The outcome
12 consistent websites, the first seven built for half the cost of building them separately.
The Virtus Specialist Day Hospitals home page.
Virtus Specialist Day HospitalsA clean bill of health
The problem
Six separate day hospital websites, so every change and security update was made six times.
The solution
One Drupal website on a new domain, with a reusable design system, hosted on Upsun behind Cloudflare.
The outcome
One platform to manage, with new hospitals added without duplicating effort.
The Africa Fertilizer Directory on an iMac, a MacBook, an iPad and an iPhone.
ArgusFertile ground for trade
The problem
Argus wanted companies in the African fertiliser industry to find each other and trade.
The solution
A Drupal directory where organisations manage their own profiles and Argus admins approve new entries.
The outcome
Content in place from day one, kept up to date by its members.
The Royal Collection Trust home page on an iMac and its collection search on a MacBook.
Royal Collection TrustThe royal treatment
The problem
The Trust needed to present a vast collection, with clearer navigation and more control for their editors.
The solution
A custom Drupal site with a filterable collection, role-based editing and on-brand landing page templates.
The outcome
Praised at launch for its design, user experience and speed, with more than 300,000 collection items to browse and filter.
Drainfast's website on an iMac, MacBook, iPad and iPhone.
DrainfastOrders that flow to the ERP
The problem
Drainfast wanted to grow online and win new, larger trade accounts, with ordering that worked from their own customised ERP.
The solution
A Drupal Commerce store built around the ERP, with live stock, customer pricing and trade ordering tools.
The outcome
1,000+ new trade customers and 3,000+ new customers in total, with more profit and a bigger market share.
★★★★★
“We’ve been collaborating with Pivale for several years on a global digital transformation project involving multiple brands. They tackle problems enthusiastically, making potentially daunting tasks feel like a breeze.”
Kristian Johnson smiling, with a long full beard and swept-back hair, wearing a dark T-shirt, in a workshop lined with tools and shelves.
Kristian Johnson
Digital Marketing Manager
Often goes with

Need this kind of help?

Planning a Drupal build, upgrade or migration? Let’s talk it through.

Our promises to you

  1. 1You leave with next steps you can act on, whether or not you work with us.
  2. 2If you decide we’re not the right fit, that’s fine. No hard sell.
  3. 3If we can’t help, we’ll say so on the call and point you in the right direction.
Prefer to just get in touch?hello@pivale.co+44 (0) 203 743 0888
Book a 30-minute callVideo call, phone call or in person
Tick any that apply to you

You’re booked in.Thanks. A calendar invite is on its way. Bring the messy version.