A MAN who bought a care home for his grandad to live in after struggling to find somewhere suitable now runs five more, including one he has just purchased in Bradford.
Harpreet Banwait founded Strong Life Care in 2010 and has now acquired Cooper House, in Cooper Lane, Bradford for a seven-figure sum.
It means the family-owned company now has eight care homes in its growing portfolio.
The story began 15 years ago when Mr Banwait decided to leave his corporate finance career to look after his elderly grandfather.
But the family struggled to find a suitable care home “due to language and cultural barriers”, according to Mr Banwait.
Mr Banwait said he “built a diverse team” to meet his grandfather’s needs and made it his mission to become “the most diverse care operator in the UK” so he would not have to turn anyone away.
His grandfather resided in Thornhill House until “the ripe age of 106 years old” and the care home has been named the Best Care Home in the North and National Winner in three years out of the last five by the Caring UK Awards.
Strong Live Care, which is headquartered in Wakefield and has also won multiple awards as an overall care operator, bought Cooper House from Priory Group.
The deal was brokered by specialist business property adviser Montane Care and funded by NatWest.
Cooper House is a purpose-built property with 80 en-suite bedrooms with wet rooms, and has offered nursing, residential, dementia and respite care since its launch in 2009.
It currently employs 140 staff.
The Banwait Family Foundation was recently set up, which gives a percentage of profits from Strong Life’s care home operations to good causes at a local, regional, national and international level.
Mr Banwait has already pledged to support local children’s sports teams near Cooper House.
Strong Life Care acquired sites in Armthorpe, South Yorkshire; Ferryhill, County Durham and Hessle, East Yorkshire last year and now employs 560 people.
Mr Banwait plans to double the care group to more than 1,000 beds across the North of England within the next 12 months.
He said: “The acquisition of Cooper House Care Home is incredibly exciting and will support our long-term growth and development plans to build the UK’s most outstanding and diverse family-owned care operator.”
