Architecture / Web & Mobile Development
Koin Rewards
A loyalty platform built end to end: points ledger, merchant web app and native iOS and Android clients.
Fintech
Loyalty rewards platform
Your website built by the person you actually brief.
Panda Bridge is a one-person studio near London. Twenty years of software development: strategy, build, launch and aftercare. No handover to a junior or offshore team.
No pitch deck. You leave with a written plan and an honest number.
Trusted by
Selected work
Recent examples of projects I've worked on.
Architecture / Web Development
The Growth Hub
Business support portal for GFirst LEP, connecting Gloucestershire firms to funding and advice.
Public sector
LEP-funded programme
Architecture / DevOps
RPMI Railpen
Delivery architecture and deployment pipelines for a pension provider looking after billions in member assets.
Regulated
Pensions environment
What I do
Six things, all done by the same pair of hands.
01
Digital strategy
We work out what's actually worth building before a line of code exists. In person where it helps.
02
Website development
Custom-built, fast and scalable. No page-builder debt to unpick in two years.
03
Mobile development
Native iOS and Android, with hosted test builds so you see progress every week.
04
eCommerce
B2C, B2B or both: checkout, catalogue and integrations tailored to how you sell.
05
Search optimisation
Technical and on-page SEO baked into every page, not bolted on afterwards.
06
Maintenance & care
Updates, monitoring and small improvements, so the thing you paid for keeps working.
Who you're hiring
I'm Christopher Steel. Panda Bridge is me, and that's the point.
Twenty years as a professional software developer, ten of them freelance. You brief me, I build it, and one person stays accountable from the first sketch to the release notes.
No account manager, no handover, no junior picking up the ticket. The person who scopes the work is the person who writes it and the person you ring afterwards.
Products of my own
Client work isn't all I ship. I've founded and still run these, so I know what it costs to keep software alive after launch, not just get it out of the door.
Since 2019
Form Flare
Founder
Connect any form to a hosted processor for hassle-free data capture. No database or backend code required.
formflare.io →Since 2020
Edit Square
Founder
Design, animate and automate professional motion-graphics videos in the browser. Nothing to download.
editsquare.com →Since 2021
Content Streams
Founder
A content sharing platform built for financial advisory firms and the advisers who work in them.
contentstreams.co.uk →Since 2022
TOMD
CTO & director
Solving the marketing challenges of professional financial services firms with easy-to-use products and services.
tomd.co.uk →Questions, answered
The things people usually ask before they book the call.
How much does a new website cost?
Most small-business projects start from £5,000, fixed price, for design and build of a custom site. Ongoing or open-ended work runs at a £650 day rate, and care plans start at £250 a month.
Who actually does the work?
Christopher Steel - Panda Bridge is a one-person studio. The person you brief is the person who scopes the work, builds it and answers the phone afterwards. Nothing is handed to a junior or offshore team.
Where is Panda Bridge based?
St Albans, just north of London. I work in person around London and Hertfordshire where it helps, and remotely for everyone else.
What do I get from the free audit?
A 30-minute call with no deck and no sales script. You leave with a one-page written plan of what I'd build and in what order, plus an honest budget range - including “don't build this yet” if that's the truth.
What happens after launch?
A care plan covers updates, monitoring and small improvements from £250 a month, cancel anytime - so the thing you paid for keeps working.
Do you take on existing sites and apps?
Yes. The day rate covers ongoing work and overflow capacity, whether or not I built the original.
Free project audit
Thirty minutes. Then you'll know what to build.
Bring a half-formed idea or a website that's letting you down. I'll tell you what I'd do, what it takes, and whether you should spend the money yet.
Prefer the phone? Leave your number in the message and I'll ring you back.
Grab a 30-minute slot
Times shown in your timezone. Video or phone, your call.
No prep needed. Bring links, sketches or nothing at all.
or contact me directly
Replies within one working day, always from me.
You're booked in