MCS
Empowering Users with Seamless Product & Installer Discovery, Dynamic Tools, and Deep Integrations
Get in touch
Background
MCS Certified (Microgeneration Certification Scheme) is the UK’s authoritative body for certifying renewable energy products and installers under stringent quality, performance, and safety standards. The organisation maintains key resources including the MCS Installations Database (MID), the Standards Library, product certification lists, and guidance for aspiring and certified installers. Its website serves multiple audiences — homeowners, installers, product manufacturers, and policymakers — all needing reliable, up-to-date access to products, certified installers, technical standards, and regulatory guidance.
As demand grew for greater transparency, improved searchability, and more interactive tools (product comparisons, dynamic calculators, etc.), it became clear that the existing site was under-performing. Key stakeholder feedback flagged difficulties finding certified products or installers, downloadable material being hard to locate, and a lack of dynamic, user-friendly tools to support decision-making.
6B was engaged to design and build a completely overhauled WordPress platform that would unify product and installer directories, support rich integrations, improve site search, and deliver tools that make comparisons and calculations intuitive and powerful.
The Need
MCS Certified required a modern, scalable digital platform that could satisfy multiple needs:
- Fully integrated product and installer directories, powered by live API data to maintain accuracy and reduce manual overhead.
- Full site search covering products, installers, standards, and resources — fast, accurate, and filterable.
- Downloadable resources (standards, guidance, technical sheets), organised with clear taxonomy and version control.
- Dynamic calculators and decision tools to help homeowners and installers estimate costs, savings, and emissions.
- API integrations with internal and external data sources to ensure information is current and validated.
- Accessibility, responsiveness, and usability, meeting WCAG standards for diverse audiences.
Editorial empowerment, giving internal teams the ability to update standards, publish news, and manage directories without developer input.
The Solution
6B delivered a bespoke WordPress rebuild for MCS Certified, architected to balance robust integrations, performance, and usability. A full discovery phase, including workshops with internal stakeholders and user research with homeowners, installers, and manufacturers, informed a restructured information architecture that grouped directories, resources, and tools in a way that reflected user needs and expectations.
Custom directories were developed to house products and installers, both powered by API integrations that ensure certification status is updated automatically. This gives users confidence in the accuracy of listings while reducing the manual workload for MCS staff. A faceted search system was implemented across the site, enabling users to quickly filter products, installers, standards, and resources by criteria such as technology type, certification status, or location.
To support informed decision-making, 6B designed and integrated dynamic tools and calculators, allowing homeowners and installers to estimate system costs, savings, and emissions. These interactive features are fully editable through WordPress, enabling MCS to adapt inputs and logic as standards evolve or new incentive schemes are introduced. Alongside this, a resource library was created to provide structured access to downloadable standards and guidance, with clear categories, metadata, and version control.
Accessibility and performance were prioritised throughout development. The site was built to WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, with semantic markup, screen-reader compatibility, and full keyboard navigation. Performance optimisation techniques such as caching, critical CSS, and lightweight asset handling ensure the platform loads quickly and reliably. Finally, the WordPress CMS was configured with Advanced Custom Fields and modular components to give MCS teams full control over directories, tools, resources, and content updates. Training and documentation were delivered to support long-term adoption and independence.