HomeHub supports sustainable housing residents following £25k Start Up Loan boost
HomeHub, is a new home technology housing application, designed to help elderly and vulnerable residents navigate sustainable home technologies. Business Enterprise Fund (BEF) North East assisted the founder to secure a £25,000 Start Up Loan to build and improve the business. In the North East Start Up Loans has delivered approximately 6,800 loans to eligible business, lending just over £66m pounds to help build and grow small business across the region.
Founder Lee Gatley-Hall began his career as a teacher before moving into project management in 2018, where he gained experience across local authority housing, private sector delivery partners and his own consultancy. Through his work, he identified a growing gap between tenants and the support needed to manage new sustainable technologies in their homes.
Lee Gatley-Hall, founder of HomeHub, said: “There was an elderly lady on my street, she’d had a new air source heat pump installed but she didn’t realise how different it was to a boiler. Her energy bills had absolutely skyrocketed. After speaking to her son and daughter, I got a local company to come and have a look at things for her. I then sat with her and asked her, if she could get this kind of help on her phone, would she have a go? Once I showed her how to use her iPhone to get apps, she seemed keener.”
Lee developed an initial prototype of HomeHub, allowing residents to connect directly with landlords, report issues and access support. To enhance the app’s functionality and user experience, he secured a £25,000 Start Up Loan through BEF North East. The funding enabled the development of a more advanced version of the platform.
HomeHub now has over 400 registered users and offers a range of features including digital guidebooks, instructional videos, energy-saving advice and local supplier recommendations, helping residents better understand and manage sustainable technology in their homes.
Lee added: “The process was a lot easier than I thought it would be. The guidance Shannon sent over lines up perfectly with what we were doing. It was all done within a month, and in the scheme of things, it was quite low risk. It made miles more sense than a bank loan.”
With the business now generating revenue, Lee is exploring options for future growth, including further investment or additional finance to scale the platform.
Shannon Donaghy, associate investment manager at BEF North East, said: “This is a case where two organisations’ values aligned perfectly. Home Hub and BEF North East are both committed to helping vulnerable people and marginalised communities achieve better standards. We’re proud to be able to get behind HomeHub’s development. Lee is doing amazing work ensuring nobody gets left behind as our economy transitions towards a greater focus on sustainability.”
Louise McCoy, managing director, Start Up Loans Products at the British Business Bank, added: “The Start Up Loans programme exists to help entrepreneurs like Lee turn innovative ideas into sustainable businesses.
“By providing access to finance and tailored support, we’re enabling founders across the UK to develop solutions that make a real difference to consumers and communities while helping innovative businesses grow and scale.
“It’s great to see this support helping to bring an innovative solution like HomeHub to market. “