Johannes Paul, co-founder of modern pet housing company Omlet, caused a stir with his Eglu chicken house. Now he hopes the company's new beehive will create a wave of urban beekeeping.

Omlet came up with the idea when a swarm of bees landed in co-founder James Tuthill's garden. He caught the bees and tried to use some old wooden beekeeping equipment. "James said it was really awful and that we should come up with something else," says Paul.

Instead of stacking boxes on top of each other, which you constantly have to unstack, Paul explains that the Beehaus is horizontal. "This means you don't have to do any lifting at all and it's also less disruptive for the bees because you are not having to split their house every time you want to look inside," he says.

Beekeeping becomes more manageable, making it easy for anyone—from amateurs to seasoned apiarists—to help bees find a home in urban gardens. The press has been buzzing with news of the decline of Britain's bee population. And Paul believes the Beehaus could make a big difference.

Omlet aims to sell 1,000 hives this year at £465 each. "In terms of the beekeeping community that would already be quite a significant increase so anything more we can do will, I think, make a difference [to the UK bee population]," says Paul.