WORLD NEWS
IN BRIEF PENTAIR EARNS 2020 ENERGY STAR® AWARD Pentair has announced it has received the 2020 ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award for continued leadership and superior contributions to ENERGY STAR. This honour marks the seventh year that Pentair has garnered recognition for its continued leadership in protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency achievements. “Pentair is committed to bringing innovative products and solutions to our customers. Our high-performing variable speed pool pumps help conserve energy resources and reduce energy costs, allowing pool owners to simply concentrate on enjoying their pool. We are proud to be recognised as an ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year for seven consecutive years,” said De’Mon Wiggins, Vice President of Pentair Pool. “More than a decade ago, Pentair introduced variable speed technology to the pool industry. Today, we remain equally dedicated to delivering smart, sustainable water solutions.”
The Everyday Meets The Exceptional At Canadian Aquatics Facility Beloeil in Quebec, Canada is defined by the dramatic cliffs of Mont Saint-Hilaire, the Richelieu River and picturesque agricultural lands, and the city’s new aquatics centre from architectural practice Lemay offers a strong design response to this unique environment. The company’s vision for the modern centre proves that thoughtful design can elevate projects with modest budgets and integrate them with the most rural landscapes. “Our goal was to maximise delicate and nuanced design strategies to make the most of this community-building opportunity,” said Lemay’s Pierre Leclerc. A luminous, translucent glass box on a black base comprises the building’s simple massing of two distinct and complementary geometric forms, its elements echoing the meeting of sky, water and plain. Smooth and shiny by day, at night the light box reveals the depth of its structure and the nature of the activity taking place inside. By the simplicity of its form
and construction, the project reflects the duality of everyday and exceptional: the geometric encounter between opacity and transparency, the darkness of the base and the lightness of the water bodies offer rich vibrations of textures and variations on architectural form. These formal variations are revealed from a distance and in the approach to the building through the rhythms of pedestrians, cyclists or motorists. “The project’s design-build approach and cost constraints created a challenging context
T&A CELEBRATES ITS 25TH ANNIVERSARY
Waterco Bolsters Business By Acquiring AutoPool
Technics & Applications (T&A), the Belgium-based automatic cover manufacturer, are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year. Established in 1995 by Ludo Vervoort, under the leadership of Managing Director Joeri Dils, the company has prospered and enjoyed significant growth in 2019, resulting in it becoming one of the leading manufacturers of automatic pool covers in Europe. Situated in the North of Belgium, T&A produces 4,000 covers per year distributed in more than 20 different countries. T&A produces high quality made-to-measure products using only high-end raw materials and sub-assemblies. The company controls the production process from start to finish, therefore ensuring it is possible to supply a high quality and stable product time after time.
International water treatment and swimming pool equipment manufacturer, Waterco Ltd, has acquired Automated Pool Products Pty Ltd (AutoPool) in Australia. The move bolsters Waterco’s extensive range of filtration, sanitisation and heating equipment while consolidating its position as one of the industry’s last remaining Australian-owned and operated companies. “Purchasing APP, or AutoPool as it’s known, is part of our strategy to strengthen Waterco’s market share,” said CEO and Chairman, Soon Sinn Goh. “AutoPool’s established brand name, excellent market reputation and digital transformation will enable us to offer comprehensive pool and spa solutions to customers throughout Australia and globally.” AutoPool owner and general manager Grant Craig will continue working for the company. Waterco Group Marketing Director Bryan Goh describes Waterco and AutoPool as “complementary companies”. “Both have a strong presence in a number of markets we’re not involved in; a big presence in WA and a significant presence in Queensland,” he said.
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for excellence, but we ultimately succeeded in creating an integrated presence that echoes a contrasting environment,” said Andrew King, Partner and Design Principal at Lemay. The interiors are flooded with light and the southeast façade is directly in line with the axis of Mont Saint-Hilaire, so that users can swim, bathe or slide while maintaining contact with the mountain.
“Clearly, it’s great that they’ve got the official distributorship of Kreepy Krauly, but that wasn’t the prime driver of our acquisition. When we looked at AutoPool, we didn’t regard them as competitors but rather a new revenue stream. That’s why we’re keeping the AutoPool business as is; we’re retaining the name and the owner Grant has stayed on. It’s business as usual.” Goh advised that over time, they’ll explore other synergies, including utilising their existing access to markets in Europe and North America. Grant Craig said it is pleasing that AutoPool will continue as normal. “We will maintain our existing locations with our existing team of professional staff. It is an exciting time for AutoPool to merge with Waterco and we look forward to continuing to provide the highquality products and service we have become known for.” Craig added he was looking for a partner to work with, and Waterco ticked all the right boxes.
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