---
title: "Royal Collection Trust case study: The royal treatment"
description: "Royal Collection Trust looks after the largest private art collection in the world. Its custom Drupal website, launched in March 2012, lets visitors browse and filter more than 300,000 items from the collection and lets the Trust's team manage the content themselves."
url: https://www.pivale.co/work/royal-collection-trust/
publisher: Pivale (https://www.pivale.co)
---

# Royal Collection Trust case study: The royal treatment

Royal Collection Trust looks after the largest private art collection in the world. Its custom Drupal website, launched in March 2012, lets visitors browse and filter more than 300,000 items from the collection and lets the Trust's team manage the content themselves.

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.

| | |
|---|---|
| Client | Royal Collection Trust, a department of the Royal Household |
| Sector | Arts and heritage |
| Services | Custom Drupal build, content management, asset integration |
| Engagement | Built as another agency's development partner, from August 2011 to launch in March 2012 |

## Outcomes

- **300,000+** collection items catalogued online, which visitors can browse and filter

## The challenge: A vast collection, one website.

The Trust's in-house team needed a website that could present a huge range of content. Visitors needed clearer navigation, and editors needed control over how their pages looked.

Royal Collection Trust, established in 1987, is a department of the British Royal Household responsible for the largest private art collection in the world. Its authors and administrators manage a wide range of pages and content types that inform and engage visitors.

The brief asked for clearer primary navigation, so visitors could find information about the collection with ease. Administrators also wanted a choice of page templates, so they could shape each page while staying true to the Royal Collection's brand.

Pivale built the site as the development partner of the agency running the project, and handed it over at launch.

## What we built: A custom Drupal site for a royal collection.

### Content managed by role

Content administrators update the site's content themselves, each with permissions set for their role.

### The collection's own assets

The site draws descriptions, metadata, images and videos from the Royal Collection's existing asset library.

### A discovery section

Visitors browse and filter more than 300,000 items from the Royal Collection.

### Landing page templates

Administrators pick from a range of templates to build landing pages that stay on brand, accessible and optimised for search.

## Results: Praised at launch.

### Launched in March 2012

The site launched in March 2012 to praise for its clean, modern design, user experience and speed.

### Editors in control

Content administrators update the content, each with permissions that match their role.

### The collection online

Visitors filter more than 300,000 items from the collection, drawing on the Trust's existing images, videos and metadata.

### Plan a visit

Search, email signup, an exhibitions section, a what's on section and visitor information pages sit alongside the collection.

## Related solutions and services

- [Drupal development](https://www.pivale.co/services/drupal): Content management for ambitious enterprises.
- [Integrations](https://www.pivale.co/services/integrations): CRM, ERP and DAM connections you can trust.
- [Agency partnerships](https://www.pivale.co/services/agency-partnerships): A development team for creative and marketing agencies.

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Source: https://www.pivale.co/work/royal-collection-trust/. Pivale is a UK digital consultancy. Book a 30-minute call at https://www.pivale.co/contact/ or email hello@pivale.co.