Ministry of Justice

The transformation was measurable and immediate. The Technical Standards workstream rationalised 112,760 rows of content down to 16,941 structured lines — an 86% reduction. Where contractors once waded through every requirement for every prison type, they now filter to see only the standards relevant to their specific facility category.

For the first time, the MoJ has a consistent, data-centric approach to information management across all 1,630 holdings spanning 5.5 million square metres. The derogation process moved from slow, paper-based, and manual to fully digital with automated routing, tracking, and a complete audit trail for governance. The resource demand on the team dropped dramatically while auditability improved.

The platform improved collaboration between MoJ internal teams, delivery partners like Mace Consult, and the wider supply chain — all stakeholders now work with the same data, eliminating the confusion that came from multiple teams managing different versions of the truth. The digitalised standards can be output to Word or PDF for offline access, which proved critical for contractors on restricted prison sites. And the golden thread of data — a connected, traceable chain from design intent through construction to operational handover — means that safety-critical decisions can now be traced back to their source. For an estate housing over 90,000 prisoners, that traceability isn’t just beneficial. It is essential.

The Ministry of Justice manages the second-largest estate in UK government — 1,630 holdings covering 5.5 million square metres, including 108 public prisons, 14 private prisons, courts, and probation services. Over decades, technical standards had grown organically into a sprawling mass of 112,760 rows of content riddled with duplication, contradictions, and outdated requirements. A contractor building a Category B closed men’s prison had no way to filter out the noise — they had to wade through requirements for women’s prisons, open prisons, and every other category just to find what applied to them.

The data problem ran deeper than just standards. The estate generated information from an enormous range of sources — design teams, construction contractors, facility managers, operations staff, and multiple government departments — each using different formats, conventions, and systems. Different consultants managed different streams of work through a patchwork of digital tools and paper-based processes. As data volumes grew, Excel buckled under the weight: spreadsheets became too large to manage, lacked the relationship capabilities needed for cross-referencing, and couldn’t provide the audit trails governance demanded.

Existing systems simply weren’t built for what the MoJ needed. TIP 2030 and ISO 19650 required transparent, auditable data flows — and the combination of paper processes and disconnected digital systems made compliance feel like an aspiration rather than a realistic goal. The MoJ needed something data-centric, centralised, customisable, collaborative, automated, and — critically for a government estate of this sensitivity — hosted within the UK.

The key insight was that Morta didn’t need to replace anything. It would sit between existing systems as an integration layer, pulling data from multiple sources into a centralised platform where it could be standardised, validated, and reported on. This pragmatic approach avoided the disruption and cost of ripping out existing tools while delivering the benefits of centralisation.

Two parallel workstreams tackled two distinct problems. Patrick Kennedy led the Technical Standards Transformation, using Morta as a database to systematically work through decades of accumulated standards. Each clause was tagged with applicable prison categories — Category B closed men’s, women’s, open prisons, and so on — so contractors working on a specific facility type could filter to see only what applied to them. The standards became searchable and cross-linked, with the ability to output to Word or PDF for offline access on restricted prison sites where internet access isn’t available.

The derogation process — requesting exceptions to technical standards — was completely reimagined. The digital workflow broke the link between the supplier side and the MoJ side, enabling managed transitions with automated routing, approval tracking, and full audit trails replacing what had been a paper-based, resource-intensive process.

Jeanine Gavigan led the second workstream: an Information Management Platform creating a data-centric approach that connects existing systems rather than replacing them. Real-time KPI tracking, automated processes, and the ability to track and trace information both internally and externally created what the team describes as a golden thread — a connected, traceable chain of data from design through construction to operation.

The implementation was collaborative from the start. Stakeholders were brought on board to help build the databases, not simply presented with a finished product. Patrick Kennedy’s team worked through the standards content methodically, tagging each clause with applicable prison categories and submitting every change to the governance board. Jeanine Gavigan’s team transitioned information management from Excel-based tools to a modern, database-centric approach with real-time KPI tracking and automated data flows. Alessandro Napoli and the Mace Consult team provided practical implementation support as delivery partner, bridging the gap between strategic vision and operational reality.

The team was candid about underestimating the complexity. Developing the platform alongside building the content within it proved challenging — the two activities sometimes pulled in different directions. Upskilling stakeholders across such a large and diverse estate required sustained investment in training and engagement, and the team found that involving people in the database-building process from day one was far more effective than handing them a finished system. Matthew Scard’s strategic vision of Morta as an integration layer — enhancing rather than replacing existing systems — was critical to gaining buy-in across such a large and complex organisation.