diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 4c6bd31cac..6b87db247a 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
     "pree2e": "yarn run config:prod",
     "pree2e:ci": "yarn run config:prod",
     "start": "yarn run start:prod",
-    "serve": "ng serve",
+    "serve": "ts-node --project ./tsconfig.ts-node.json scripts/serve.ts",
     "start:dev": "npm-run-all --parallel config:dev:watch serve",
     "start:prod": "yarn run build:prod && yarn run serve:ssr",
     "build": "ng build",
diff --git a/scripts/serve.ts b/scripts/serve.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ff3554804e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/serve.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+import { environment } from '../src/environments/environment';
+
+import * as child from 'child_process';
+
+child.spawn(
+  `ng serve --host ${environment.ui.host} --port ${environment.ui.port} --servePath ${environment.ui.nameSpace} --ssl ${environment.ui.ssl}`,
+  { stdio:'inherit', shell: true }
+);
diff --git a/server.ts b/server.ts
index 31cefe4ec5..131b6bb4ae 100644
--- a/server.ts
+++ b/server.ts
@@ -1,75 +1,157 @@
-/**
- * *** NOTE ON IMPORTING FROM ANGULAR AND NGUNIVERSAL IN THIS FILE ***
- *
- * If your application uses third-party dependencies, you'll need to
- * either use Webpack or the Angular CLI's `bundleDependencies` feature
- * in order to adequately package them for use on the server without a
- * node_modules directory.
- *
- * However, due to the nature of the CLI's `bundleDependencies`, importing
- * Angular in this file will create a different instance of Angular than
- * the version in the compiled application code. This leads to unavoidable
- * conflicts. Therefore, please do not explicitly import from @angular or
- * @nguniversal in this file. You can export any needed resources
- * from your application's main.server.ts file, as seen below with the
- * import for `ngExpressEngine`.
- */
-
 import 'zone.js/dist/zone-node';
 import 'reflect-metadata';
+import 'rxjs';
 
+import * as fs from 'fs';
+import * as pem from 'pem';
+import * as https from 'https';
+import * as morgan from 'morgan';
 import * as express from 'express';
-import { join } from 'path';
-import { REQUEST, RESPONSE } from '@nguniversal/express-engine/tokens';
 import * as bodyParser from 'body-parser';
+import * as compression from 'compression';
 import * as cookieParser from 'cookie-parser';
+
+import { enableProdMode, NgModuleFactory, Type } from '@angular/core';
+
+import { ngExpressEngine } from '@nguniversal/express-engine';
+
+import { REQUEST, RESPONSE } from '@nguniversal/express-engine/tokens';
 import { environment } from './src/environments/environment';
 
-// Express server
-const app = express();
+export function startServer(bootstrap: Type<{}> | NgModuleFactory<{}>) {
+  const app = express();
 
-const PORT = environment.ui.port || 4000;
-const DIST_FOLDER = join(process.cwd(), 'dist/browser');
+  if (environment.production) {
+    enableProdMode();
+    app.use(compression());
+  }
 
-// * NOTE :: leave this as require() since this file is built Dynamically from webpack
-const { ServerAppModuleNgFactory, LAZY_MODULE_MAP, ngExpressEngine, provideModuleMap } = require('./dist/server/main');
+  app.use(morgan('dev'));
 
-app.use(cookieParser());
-app.use(bodyParser.json());
+  app.use(cookieParser());
+  app.use(bodyParser.json());
 
-app.engine('html', (_, options, callback) =>
-  ngExpressEngine({
-    bootstrap: ServerAppModuleNgFactory,
-    providers: [
-      {
-        provide: REQUEST,
-        useValue: (options as any).req,
-      },
-      {
-        provide: RESPONSE,
-        useValue: (options as any).req.res,
-      },
-      provideModuleMap(LAZY_MODULE_MAP)
-    ],
-  })(_, options, callback)
-);
+  app.engine('html', (_, options, callback) =>
+    ngExpressEngine({
+      bootstrap: bootstrap,
+      providers: [
+        {
+          provide: REQUEST,
+          useValue: (options as any).req,
+        },
+        {
+          provide: RESPONSE,
+          useValue: (options as any).req.res,
+        },
+      ],
+    })(_, (options as any), callback)
+  );
 
-app.set('view engine', 'html');
-app.set('views', DIST_FOLDER);
+  app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
+  app.set('view engine', 'html');
+  app.set('views', 'src');
 
-// Example Express Rest API endpoints
-// app.get('/api/**', (req, res) => { });
-// Serve static files from /browser
-app.get('*.*', express.static(DIST_FOLDER, {
-  maxAge: '1y'
-}));
+  function cacheControl(req, res, next) {
+    // instruct browser to revalidate
+    res.header('Cache-Control', environment.cache.control || 'max-age=60');
+    next();
+  }
 
-// All regular routes use the Universal engine
-app.get('*', (req, res) => {
-  res.render('index', { req });
-});
+  app.use('/', cacheControl, express.static('dist', { index: false }));
 
-// Start up the Node server
-app.listen(PORT, () => {
-  console.log(`Node Express server listening on http://localhost:${PORT}`);
-});
+// TODO: either remove or update mock backend
+// app.get('/data.json', serverApi);
+// app.use('/api', createMockApi());
+
+  function ngApp(req, res) {
+    const dspace = {
+      originalRequest: {
+        headers: req.headers,
+        body: req.body,
+        method: req.method,
+        params: req.params,
+        reportProgress: req.reportProgress,
+        withCredentials: req.withCredentials,
+        responseType: req.responseType,
+        urlWithParams: req.urlWithParams
+      }
+    };
+
+    function onHandleError(parentZoneDelegate, currentZone, targetZone, error) {
+      if (!res._headerSent)  {
+        console.warn('Error in SSR, serving for direct CSR. Error details : ', error);
+        res.sendFile('index.csr.html', { root: './src' });
+      }
+    }
+
+    if (environment.universal.preboot) {
+      Zone.current.fork({ name: 'CSR fallback', onHandleError }).run(() => {
+        res.render('../dist/index.html', {
+          req,
+          res,
+          preboot: environment.universal.preboot,
+          async: environment.universal.async,
+          time: environment.universal.time,
+          baseUrl: environment.ui.nameSpace,
+          originUrl: environment.ui.baseUrl,
+          requestUrl: req.originalUrl
+        });
+      });
+    } else {
+      console.log('Universal off, serving for direct CSR');
+      res.render('index-csr.ejs', {
+        root: './src',
+        scripts: `<script>window.dspace = ${JSON.stringify(dspace)}</script>`
+      });
+    }
+  }
+
+  function serverStarted() {
+    console.log(`[${new Date().toTimeString()}] Listening at ${environment.ui.baseUrl}`);
+  }
+
+  function createHttpsServer(keys) {
+    https.createServer({
+      key: keys.serviceKey,
+      cert: keys.certificate
+    }, app).listen(environment.ui.port, environment.ui.host, () => {
+      serverStarted();
+    });
+  }
+
+  if (environment.ui.ssl) {
+    let serviceKey;
+    try {
+      serviceKey = fs.readFileSync('./config/ssl/key.pem');
+    } catch (e) {
+      console.warn('Service key not found at ./config/ssl/key.pem');
+    }
+
+    let certificate;
+    try {
+      certificate = fs.readFileSync('./config/ssl/cert.pem');
+    } catch (e) {
+      console.warn('Certificate not found at ./config/ssl/key.pem');
+    }
+
+    if (serviceKey && certificate) {
+      createHttpsServer({
+        serviceKey: serviceKey,
+        certificate: certificate
+      });
+    } else {
+
+      process.env.NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED = '0';
+
+      pem.createCertificate({
+        days: 1,
+        selfSigned: true
+      }, (error, keys) => {
+        createHttpsServer(keys);
+      });
+    }
+  } else {
+    app.listen(environment.ui.port, environment.ui.host, () => {
+      serverStarted();
+    });
+  }}
diff --git a/src/routes.ts b/src/routes.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index f3e963b25a..0000000000
--- a/src/routes.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-export const ROUTES: string[] = [
-  'home',
-  'items/:id',
-  'login',
-  'logout',
-  'collections/:id',
-  'communities/:id',
-  'login',
-  'logout',
-  'search',
-  'submit',
-  'workspaceitems/:id/edit',
-  'workflowitems/:id/edit',
-  '**'
-];