When Graeme Lee was in his mid-20s, he organised a holiday for 24 people in two chalets in France. Tragically, two of them died on the trip.
Devastated, he took a year off from his job as a senior manager at Marks & Spencer. His sabbatical drifted into a second year until it ended abruptly when his mother fell ill and he rushed home to be with her. Within four weeks she was dead.
Thirty years on, Mr Lee is one of Harrogate’s most successful businessmen. His company Springfield Healthcare has six care homes, a £30m turnover and 1,500 staff, including domiciliary care. It wasn’t university or education that forged him, but those early losses.
He says:
“They were two of the most traumatic things that have ever happened to me.
“I can’t tell you how responsible I felt for what happened on the holiday. One of the girls wasn’t going to go and I lent her the money.
“Those two years away transformed me. I learned a lot about the meaning of life.”
It has been some journey. Mr Lee grew up in a small care home his mum and dad owned in Garforth, West Yorkshire, regularly moving bedrooms to accommodate residents and watching TV with them at night.
He then struck out on his own at M&S until his mother’s death proved a turning point. He says:
“Shortly before she died, Mum asked if I would look after Dad and the business and my two sisters. I’ve tried to do that ever since.”
Care homes are light years away from what they were when Mr Lee was young. He says:
“Care homes in the 1970s had bad reputations. Your grandma would say ‘don’t ever put me into a care home’. That’s driven me over the years. I want to change how older people perceive care homes.”
Harcourt Gardens in Harrogate
Today Springfield Healthcare, which has six homes providing 500 beds, is at the forefront of luxury care. Think cinema days, rooftop terraces and gin bars.
Harcourt Gardens, which opened close to Harrogate town centre in December, is registered for 115 residents. Its facilities include a cinema room, gym, hairdressing salon and spa, and landscaped gardens. He adds:
“The most important thing for me is that it’s in the heart of the community. Older people want to live in their community.”
Naturally it isn’t cheap — prices in Harrogate start at £1,250 a week. Mr Lee says his company creates an option for people able to afford the choice and provides value for money.
Harcourt Gardens, which employs 50 staff, took more than seven years to go from vision to completion. Covid and a flooded basement added to the delays.
How does he top that? Another site in Harrogate could raise the bar even higher.
‘Holy grail of care’
Outside Grove House
Three years ago, Mr Lee bought Grove House, a grade two listed building off Skipton Road that was once the home of Victorian inventor, philanthropist and mayor Samson Fox.
Grove House belonged at the time to the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes, a fraternal movement. A flag showing the initials GLE hung outside, indicating it was the organisation’s grand lodge of England.
So when Mr Lee, whose car number plate bears the initials GLE after his name, turned up to check out the site, there was a sense of fate. That there is a plaque about Samson Fox near his Harrogate home added to this.
He bought the site for £3 million and now plans to transform it into “the holy grail of care”.
He wants to convert Grove House to accommodate 23 independent living apartments and build a 70-bed care home and eight houses providing supported living for over-65s on land alongside it.
Schoolchildren from nearby Grove Road Community Primary School will be invited to participate in activities alongside residents and use the gardens for study and play. The site will also host an annual garden party for the community.
The vision for Grove House.
He says:
“I want to bring Grove House back to life and make it part of the community.
“All of my 28 years in care have led me to this. We are giving back to the community and school. It’s not just about making money; it’s about doing the right things.”
‘Strong regional provider’
Mr Lee, who will be an energetic 57 next month, is eyeing other projects.
He’s bought the former Summer Cross pub in Otley and hopes to get planning permission to convert it into a care home. He’s also looking at a site in Wetherby. But his empire is unlikely to swell much more.
“I don’t want to be the biggest, I want to be the best. I want to be a good, strong regional provider.”
Times, however, are tough. Brexit, he says, has “not had a significant impact” besides the fact that he now employs fewer European staff, but he describes the impact of the cost of living crisis and rising energy bills as “massive”.
“I’ve never known it as challenging in my 28 years. We have increased pay rates by 11% for domcare and fuel allowance by 33% and it hasn’t even touched the sides.”
By contrast, he says some local authorities have only increased the rates they pay private providers by 3%, which he describes as “absolutely unacceptable”.
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The company is also focusing on staff wellbeing and provides a hardship fund for those in need.
The rise in agency staff is another big change in the care sector, which he attributes largely to evolving work patterns.
“Ten years ago, I didn’t have any agency staff. Now people want to work for four to six weeks and then have a month off.”
Care homes are a major part of the Harrogate district economy but most people, says Mr Lee, make the mistake of not thinking about them until there’s a family crisis. Then they are suddenly forced to make rushed decisions. He says:
“There are so many good care homes on your doorstep here in Harrogate. Go and start looking.”
Mr Lee has two grow-up children from his previous relationship. Son Hugo runs a recruitment company and daughter Rafaela is at university. He now lives with partner Heidi and her three boys.
Away from work, he “plays golf, badly” off a 13 handicap, and is a member of Alwoodley golf club in Leeds. He also enjoys mini-breaks.
He’s come a long way but the 1990s are never far from his mind.
He is close friends with the parents of one of the girls who died and he’s still driven by the promise he made to his mum to look after the business and to keep raising the bar on care homes.
“I’m totally committed to providing the holy grail of care. I want it to feel like a hotel when people walk in.”
