Synergrid acts as the representative body for Belgium’s electricity and gas network operators. The organization represents nine companies and serves as the point of contact for Belgian and European authorities. The website needed to accurately reflect that institutional role, make documentation accessible and integrate complex bespoke functionality. LOFT 33 undertook that project from Herent.
The result is a completely restructured Joomla website featuring a new information architecture, improved navigation, a bespoke approval tool with a payment gateway, and integration with Exact accounting software.
Website redesign for an institutional organisation: how Synergrid strengthened its sectoral role through digital means
Redesigning the Synergrid website was no ordinary web project. An organisation that represents nine network operators and acts as a point of contact for Belgian and European authorities has different digital needs to a commercial enterprise. Documentation must be easy to find. Information must be structured logically. And the website must reflect the organisation’s authority within the sector online, not undermine it.
This is how LOFT 33 approached that process and what the outcome was.
Who is Synergrid?
Synergrid is the federation of Belgian electricity and gas network operators. The organisation represents nine companies, including the operators of the electricity and natural gas transmission and distribution networks in Belgium. Synergrid acts as a point of contact for Belgian and European authorities, coordinates sectoral consultations and manages the approval process for technical standards and materials.
This combination of representation, consultation, documentation and approval makes the website structurally more complex than that of a typical organisation. Each target group, from network operators to installers and European institutions, has different information needs and uses the website in a different way.
What was the challenge?
Synergrid’s existing website no longer reflected the organisation’s institutional role. The content had accumulated over time without any strategic digital planning, resulting in a structure that was difficult for users to navigate and insufficiently optimised for search engines.
Specifically, there were four sticking points.
Informatiearchitectuur zonder strategische logica
Documents and sector-specific information were scattered across a structure that had grown organically. There was no clear distinction between the various parts of the organisation: the market consultation unit, the type-approval department and the document centre. Users struggled to find what they were looking for, which is a real problem for an organisation that acts as an information hub for the sector.
Limited digital authority
An institutional organisation such as Synergrid is judged by its stakeholders on the quality and accessibility of its digital presence. A website that is difficult to navigate and does not visually reflect the organisation’s institutional role undermines its authority, even if the content is strong.
No integrated type-approval tool
The approval process for technical standards and materials was not digitalised. Applications, payments and the associated administrative processing were not integrated into the website, which was both time-consuming and prone to errors for both applicants and Synergrid’s internal team.
Limited multilingual consistency
Synergrid communicates in several languages. The existing multilingual structure lacked consistency, which detracted from the user experience for French- and English-speaking visitors.
How did LOFT 33 handle this?
Complete overhaul of the information architecture
LOFT 33 redesigned the entire information architecture based on an analysis of the target groups and their information needs. The new structure clearly distinguishes between the four main sections of the website: the organisation itself, the market consultation, the approval process and the document centre.
A logical user journey has been developed for each target group. An installer wishing to submit a type-approval application follows a different path to a European authority seeking sector-specific information. These journeys are seamlessly linked, ensuring that visitors do not feel lost in an overly complex structure.
Joomla as a platform for complex institutional needs
LOFT 33 chose Joomla as its CMS. For an organisation such as Synergrid, with complex user groups, extensive document management, multilingual capabilities and in-depth custom integrations, Joomla offers the technical flexibility that WordPress cannot provide in this case. Joomla’s sophisticated user management and modular structure are exactly what an institutional organisation needs for a scalable, future-proof platform.
Bespoke type-approval tool
One of the most complex elements of the project is the custom approval tool. This module enables installers and suppliers to submit an approval application via the website, process the corresponding payment via an integrated payment gateway, and manage the administrative follow-up via a link to Synergrid’s Exact accounting software.
For the applicant, the process is transparent and straightforward. For Synergrid’s internal team, the administrative burden has been significantly reduced. That is the difference between a website that provides information and one that supports processes.
SEO structure and AI readability
The restructuring also provided an opportunity to set up the SEO structure correctly. A semantic page hierarchy, logical internal linking, a clear entity structure and optimised metadata ensure that search engines and AI systems can interpret the website correctly. For an industry organisation, being cited by AI systems is becoming increasingly relevant: questions about the Belgian energy sector are answered by AI agents based on the most authoritative sources.
Multilingual architecture
The multilingual structure was built consistently for Dutch, French and English. Each language version has the same logical hierarchy and the same navigation structure, ensuring a consistent user experience regardless of the visitor’s language.
What were the results?
Synergrid’s revamped website gives the organisation a digital presence that reflects its institutional role. Stakeholders can find what they are looking for more quickly. The document centre is accessible and organised in a logical manner. The approval tool reduces the administrative burden for both applicants and the internal team.
The multilingual architecture facilitates communication with European institutions and international partners. The SEO structure enhances organic visibility for sector-specific searches. And the AI-ready design ensures that Synergrid is recognised as an authoritative source even in AI-driven search systems.
What does this mean for your organization?
The challenges faced by Synergrid – a complex information architecture, multiple target groups with diverse needs, and an institutional role that must be reflected digitally – are familiar to any sector organisation, federation or institution that takes its digital presence seriously.
A website that merely provides information is only doing half the job. A website that supports processes, effectively serves its target audiences and digitally reflects the organisation’s industry authority is a strategic tool.
What makes a website for an institutional organisation different from one for a commercial company?
A website for an industry association or federation differs from a commercial website in three key respects.
Information architecture at the heart
An institutional website is primarily an information platform. Its structure determines whether stakeholders can quickly find what they are looking for and whether the organisation is recognised as an authoritative source. Design is secondary to architecture.
Multiple target groups with fundamentally different needs
A federation serves sector members, government bodies, international partners and the general public all at once. Each of these target groups has different information needs and uses the website in a different way. A website that works equally well for all target groups requires a well-thought-out architecture with logical user paths tailored to each profile.
Customised functionality for internal processes
Institutional organisations often manage complex processes, ranging from approval and certification to member portals and document management. A website that supports these processes digitally reduces the administrative burden and boosts the organisation’s efficiency. This requires bespoke development that goes beyond a standard CMS installation.
Frequently asked questions about websites for institutional organisations and federations
LOFT 33 manages the entire process: target audience analysis and their information needs, restructuring the information architecture, platform selection, content strategy, custom functionality development, and launch. For institutional organizations, this also includes: multilingual architecture, document management, user management per target group, and integration of internal processes such as homologation, certification, or member portals.
For complex institutional websites, Joomla offers the technical flexibility needed by organizations with extensive user management, multilingual requirements, and deep custom integrations. Its sophisticated system for user groups and access rights, modular structure, and independence from external plugin ecosystems make Joomla the right choice for a platform that must remain stable and manageable in the long term.
The homologation tool LOFT 33 developed for Synergrid allows installers and suppliers to submit a homologation application for technical standards and materials via the website. The tool integrates a payment gateway for application fees and links with Synergrid’s Exact accounting software for administrative processing. For the applicant, the process is transparent and simple. For the internal team, the administrative burden has been significantly reduced.
SEO and AI readability are built into the architecture: semantic page hierarchy, logical internal linking, correct metadata, and a structure that search engines and AI systems can interpret correctly. For institutional organizations, being citable by AI systems is becoming increasingly relevant: questions about a sector or domain are answered by AI agents based on the most authoritative sources. A correctly structured website increases the chance that the organization is recognized as that source.
That depends on the situation. LOFT 33 analyzes each project to see if a targeted restructuring of the information architecture is enough, or if a complete rebuild is the only structural solution. For Synergrid, a complete rebuild was necessary because the structural issues were too deep-seated to solve through adjustments. For other organizations, a targeted restructuring while maintaining the existing platform might be the right choice.
The turnaround time depends on the complexity: the number of target audiences, the scope of the information structure, custom functionality, and multi-language support. For a project of Synergrid’s scale, involving a complete restructuring, custom integrations, and a payment gateway, LOFT 33 estimates a timeline of several months. An initial conversation will quickly clarify the actual timeline for your situation.
Yes. LOFT 33 also supports organizations after launch: updates, security patches, functional expansions, and structural adjustments are all followed up on. For institutional organizations with internal management teams, LOFT 33 also provides a handover so the team can handle daily operations independently.
Read our other articles
24 July, 2026
Schots Legal: proactive legal advice, clearly presented on a website
Proactive legal advice in business and company law. LOFT 33 developed a WordPress website that focuses on the firm’s approach, rather than just the areas of law.
20 July, 2026
When should you revamp your company website?
Your website is the first point of contact with a potential customer, but how do you know when it’s time for a revamp? Discover the clearest signs and find out which approach is best suited to the situation.
13 July, 2026
Schoenaerts & Partners: How a specialized Law Firm showcases the depth of its expertise online
A law firm specializing in insolvency law with more than 500 bankruptcy cases. LOFT 33 built a multilingual WordPress website featuring a comprehensive content architecture, a blog, and media integration.
