About
District is transitioning building technology into the 21st Century, ready for the smart city revolution.
Our story
District Technologies was founded in 2017 by Vanessa Butz. Our team is a close knit group of 20, based out of London, Lisbon and New York. We are a diverse team of passionate technologists, entrepreneurs, growth hackers and real estate experts that has a strong track record in real estate, technology, and scaling digital products. We are all comfortable working in the open, collaboratively and are happy to challenge the status quo with each other, to ensure our product is the best and most technologically advanced on the market that is beautifully simple to use and delivers real value.
Vanessa Butz
CEO & FOUNDER
Vanessa is passionate about shaping the future of cities to improve everyone’s work and life experience. Having studied Engineering, Economics and Management at Oxford University, she wrote her masters thesis on “Understanding the DNA of Strong Entrepreneurial Hubs” and took her theory into practice by building large technology and coworking campuses (Factory Berlin and Interchange Camden, Market-Tech). Working at the intersection of cities and technology, she has now founded District.
Hannah Prideaux
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
Hannah has 12 years of real estate experience in both the corporate and PropTech worlds. She started her career at Savills where she qualified as a Chartered Surveyor and continued in the advisory space at PwC, before moving into PropTech. She has a strong real estate network and enjoys helping landlords and companies upgrade their building technology and engage with their users.
James Goldthorpe
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
James studied Property Development & Planning at UWE Bristol and wrote his dissertation on the feasibility of developers pursuing commercial carbon neutral developments. During university he worked for Apple, which is where his interest in technology and it’s applications developed from.
Jed Stanton
DEPLOYMENT MANAGER
Jed studied Biochemistry at the University of Leeds and has a Graduate Diploma in Law. He is an analytical guru and enjoys building relationships with District’s clients. He loves travelling and spent several months exploring China and Japan after graduating.
Dan McKenzie
SOFTWARE LEAD
Dan is responsible for the development of District. With an eye to the future and passion for integrating everyday life with technology, Dan draws on valuable experience honed through a global platform he founded in 2012 - connecting adults through online gaming. He holds a BSc in Music Technology from De Montfort University.
Pavel Racu
BACKEND DEVELOPER
Pavel has worked as a C++ developer for Renault and Natixis Bank, but his true passion is Java. As part of the backed development team he is responsible for delivering the best user experience possible. He is passionate about Linux, Java and coffee!
Aminoor Alam
SOFTWARE ENGINEER
Aminoor studied Computer Science at Queen Mary, University of London. He is a car enthusiast, who loves problem-solving and is passionate about technology and how it all works. His goal is to use his developing skills to innovate new approaches towards smart building technology.
Mark Hardwick
SOFTWARE ENGINEER
Mark is passionate about creating and implementing amazing customer-centric experiences, having previously worked at both Tesco and smart home startup OME. Starting out from an electronic engineering background, he holds a BSc in Computer Science from Leicester University, picking up skills in all areas of development, prototyping and UX design practices. He strives to be Technology agnostic and to ensure the best standards and languages are used for the task, whilst up-skilling those around him.
Claudiu Danaila
UI / UX DESIGNER
Claudiu is a multidisciplinary designer who loves the web, beauty and all things that are enjoyable to use. He strives to create the best possible visual experiences by solving common problems through design. In his approach, simplicity is what he values the most.
Pete Hallett
CTO
Pete is an enthusiastic open source technologist with a track record in delivering products across a number of platforms and industries. His passions lay in building expert “can do” teams that can turn complexity into simplicity to deliver user centric products and stakeholders business value. Pete has founded and scaled start-ups developing class-leading user centered products specialising in mobile, data, IoT, access control and mapping. Most recently he has focused on what a future city needs from a GovTech perspective, bringing the users closer to the physical assets of a city by meeting user needs with well organised data, technology and experiences.
James Robotham
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
James has spent the past 12 years working across various capacities in the Residential Real Estate Sector. Prior to working in Proptech James was a specialist in Prime Central London Real Estate for Knight Frank specialising in both Sales and Lettings around Hyde Park. He moved into a Growth Manager role for a tech-enabled property management company specialising in short term rentals, SaaS and the Private Rented Sector. James is an enthusiastic (but poor) golfer, enjoys tennis and socialising.
Charlotte West
PRODUCT SUCCESS MANAGER
Charlotte started her career in global mobility and relocation specialising in the UK residential letting market. Consulting and supporting employees from the Fortune Global 500 on complex moves led to a deep understanding of customers and their needs allowing for a seamless transition into Customer Success Management at start-ups. Charlotte is passionate about data-driven customer success to ensure value is delivered throughout the customer journey. A real foodie, Charlotte enjoys travelling and experiencing new cultures through sampling local cuisine.
Justin Haylock
LEAD DEVELOPER
Justin has over 20 years experience in web, mobile and desktop development, for a range of industries. He’s spent the last 5 years working for government in consultancy and development roles, managing teams and projects, and designing new innovative technology solutions to help people.
Artur Freitas
BACKEND DEVELOPER
Artur is a backend developer and is a PHP guru! He is extremely persistent and always able to deliver successful solutions to problems. He likes getting involved in all aspects of development and is keen to help others.
Diogo Mota
FRONTEND DEVELOPER
Diogo is a frontend developer, but he’s not scared of the backend. He is always looking to improve and learn new skills and his goal is to become a full stack developer. He is excited about technology and its integration with everyday life, as well as an enthusiastic motorcycle rider.
Bhaskar Saikia
SOFTWARE ENGINEER
Bhaskar studied MSc Big Data Science at Queen Mary, University of London. He is a Data Science & Machine Learning enthusiast. He is keen to continue learning and implementing various Data Analytics, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence concepts at District.
Tom Willers
DEVELOPER
Tom previously completed a graduate engineer job with Jaguar-Land Rover where he was working with various Object-Oriented technologies manipulating high-volume time-based data.
He had to focus on the streamlining of importing and calculation processes to reduce latency and improve productivity.
Tom also has a 1st Class Hons degree in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London.
Joao Ferrao
UI / UX DESIGNER
João is a passionate UI / UX Designer and creative problem solver, with a particular taste for psychology and a huge love for people, photography and arts. His focus is on delivering usable and desirable digital products and services.
Vanessa Butz
CEO & CO-FOUNDER
Vanessa is passionate about shaping the future of cities to improve everyone’s work and life experience. Having studied Engineering, Economics and Management at Oxford University, she wrote her masters thesis on “Understanding the DNA of Strong Entrepreneurial Hubs” and took her theory into practice by building large technology and coworking campuses (Factory Berlin and Interchange Camden, Market-Tech). Working at the intersection of cities and technology, she has now founded District.
Pete Hallett
CTO
Pete is an enthusiastic open source technologist with a track record in delivering products across a number of platforms and industries. His passions lay in building expert “can do” teams that can turn complexity into simplicity to deliver user centric products and stakeholders business value. Pete has founded and scaled start-ups developing class-leading user centered products specialising in mobile, data, IoT, access control and mapping. Most recently he has focused on what a future city needs from a GovTech perspective, bringing the users closer to the physical assets of a city by meeting user needs with well organised data, technology and experiences.
Hannah Prideaux
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
Hannah has 12 years of real estate experience in both the corporate and PropTech worlds. She started her career at Savills where she qualified as a Chartered Surveyor and continued in the advisory space at PwC, before moving into PropTech. She has a strong real estate network and enjoys helping landlords and companies upgrade their building technology and engage with their users.
James Robotham
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
James has spent the past 12 years working across various capacities in the Residential Real Estate Sector. Prior to working in Proptech James was a specialist in Prime Central London Real Estate for Knight Frank specialising in both Sales and Lettings around Hyde Park. He moved into a Growth Manager role for a tech-enabled property management company specialising in short term rentals, SaaS and the Private Rented Sector. James is an enthusiastic (but poor) golfer, enjoys tennis and socialising.
James Goldthorpe
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
James studied BA Property Development & Planning at UWE Bristol and wrote his dissertation on the feasibility of developers pursuing commercial carbon neutral developments. During university he worked for Apple, which is where his interest in technology and it’s applications developed from.
Charlotte West
PRODUCT SUCCESS MANAGER
Charlotte started her career in global mobility and relocation specialising in the UK residential letting market. Consulting and supporting employees from the Fortune Global 500 on complex moves led to a deep understanding of customers and their needs allowing for a seamless transition into Customer Success Management at start-ups. Charlotte is passionate about data-driven customer success to ensure value is delivered throughout the customer journey. A real foodie, Charlotte enjoys travelling and experiencing new cultures through sampling local cuisine.
Jed Stanton
DEPLOYMENT MANAGER
Jed studied Biochemistry at the University of Leeds and has a Graduate Diploma in Law. He is an analytical guru and enjoys building relationships with District’s clients. He loves travelling and spent several months exploring China and Japan after graduating.
Justin Haylock
LEAD DEVELOPER
Justin has over 20 years experience in web, mobile and desktop development, for a range of industries. He’s spent the last 5 years working for government in consultancy and development roles, managing teams and projects, and designing new innovative technology solutions to help people.
Dan McKenzie
SOFTWARE LEAD
Dan is responsible for the development of District. With an eye to the future and passion for integrating everyday life with technology, Dan draws on valuable experience honed through a global platform he founded in 2012 - connecting adults through online gaming. He holds a BSc in Music Technology from De Montfort University.
Pavel Racu
BACKEND DEVELOPER
Pavel has worked as a C++ developer for Renault and Natixis Bank, but his true passion is Java. As part of the backed development team he is responsible for delivering the best user experience possible. He is passionate about Linux, Java and coffee!
Artur Freitas
BACKEND DEVELOPER
Artur is a backend developer and is a PHP guru! He is extremely persistent and always able to deliver successful solutions to problems. He likes getting involved in all aspects of development and is keen to help others.
Diogo Moto
FRONTEND DEVELOPER
Diogo is a frontend developer, but he’s not scared of the backend. He is always looking to improve and learn new skills and his goal is to become a full stack developer. He is excited about technology and its integration with everyday life, as well as an enthusiastic motorcycle rider.
Bhaskar Saikia
SOFTWARE ENGINEER
Bhaskar studied MSc Big Data Science at Queen Mary, University of London. He is a Data Science & Machine Learning enthusiast. He is keen to continue learning and implementing various Data Analytics, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence concepts at District.
Aminoor Alam
SOFTWARE ENGINEER
Aminoor studied Computer Science at Queen Mary, University of London. He is a car enthusiast, who loves problem-solving and is passionate about technology and how it all works. His goal is to use his developing skills to innovate new approaches towards smart building technology.
Mark Hardwick
SOFTWARE ENGINEER
Mark is passionate about creating and implementing amazing customer-centric experiences, having previously worked at both Tesco and smart home startup OME. Starting out from an electronic engineering background, he holds a BSc in Computer Science from Leicester University, picking up skills in all areas of development, prototyping and UX design practices. He strives to be Technology agnostic and to ensure the best standards and languages are used for the task, whilst up-skilling those around him.
Tom Willers
DEVELOPER
Tom previously completed a graduate engineer job with Jaguar-Land Rover where he was working with various Object-Oriented technologies manipulating high-volume time-based data.
He had to focus on the streamlining of importing and calculation processes to reduce latency and improve productivity.
Tom also has a 1st Class Hons degree in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London.
Claudiu Danaila
UI / UX DESIGNER
Claudiu is a multidisciplinary designer who loves the web, beauty and all things that are enjoyable to use. He strives to create the best possible visual experiences by solving common problems through design. In his approach, simplicity is what he values the most.
Joao Ferrao
UI / UX DESIGNER
João is a passionate UI / UX Designer and creative problem solver, with a particular taste for psychology and a huge love for people, photography and arts. His focus is on delivering usable and desirable digital products and services.
