Behind the Scenes with Chris Jackson of Aquarius Pools

Winner of the 2021 Remco Pool of the year award

by Kylie de Boer

We sat down with the 2021 Remco Pool of the Year award winner, Chris Jackson from Aquarius Pools, to find out more about the inspiration behind the winning pool, what the award has meant for Aquarius Pools and Chris’s journey to date.

What did it mean to win the Remco pool of the year award?

Exciting, from a business point of view. But for us, one of the big takeaways is how much the staff and our clients got out of it. Truly pleasing that it’s a recognition of the staff’s hard work, and the team’s hard work, and quite a good uplift in hard COVID times. Although we have won this award three times before, I think it meant more this time as it was nice to have some good news. It is a pool that was a particularly exciting project in its own right. Sometimes you can win (or lose) and wonder why, but this is a pool we are very proud of.

How has winning impacted your business?

I think it gives you credibility when you’re selling. We’re lucky in the recreational industry at the moment to have gone through exceptionally busy times. In my 37 years, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Something you wouldn’t have expected with COVID. Has it impacted directly on sales? It’s always hard to tell, but I don’t think good news about your brand, and even broader than that the industry - which these awards bring - is a bad thing. No doubt it’s been good. Good for our clients, our marketing, our business model, as well as our staff.

What was the inspiration behind the winning pool?

The client’s brief for the pool and the spa provided a lot of inspiration in itself. That - combined with our team’s input - plus the team at Leone Constructions with whom we do quite a bit of work, all contributed towards the innovative design which was done by Cera Stribley Architects. It really was a collaborative team approach. Right from day one it wasn’t about getting the budget right, but the project right, and the budget to fit that. So we were lucky that the blinkers were off with the architects. We have also done a lot of work with the builder and the architect in the past, and they are both extremely supportive when it comes to what we need to actually pull off with a project like this, as well as the large equipment spaces required - which always helps. The end result definitely reflects the collective vision of all parties involved.

In terms of the design itself, from the start the clients were keen for a beautiful water feature, whilst also a low maintenance pool for laps and entertaining. The curved sculptural form of the house was designed to wrap around the pool and all the rooms in the house point north overlooking the swimming pool and out towards the city. LED lights were utilised to provide a stunning water feature at night. During the design process we actually played with the wet edges a lot, to enable us to achieve both the visual look that the clients were after, and also the functionality of the design.

The scale and complexity of this project is definitely a standout. There is an infinity edge on three sides and the entire pool extends the length of the neighbour’s garden. The back and side have a five metre drop off into a balance tank. Swim jets were incorporated to allow lap swimming and there is a hidden gutter that stops the water from the pool and spa interacting. So, there is quite a lot of detail in it. The pool equipment is under the pool. You wouldn’t see anyone fit out a plant room to this level of detail on too many domestic pools. It’s hard to talk about that, but the fact is it was all done to the millimetre. The aim was to make a pool that was completely self-cleaning and easy to use. It’s completely controlled by a phone app which we also have access to back at the office if needed. It’s fully automated with in-floor cleaning so that the clients can just enjoy.

Did you anticipate at the time of building the winning pool, that it would be a pool of the year award candidate?

I think that we always knew it was going to be a great project from very early on. I don’t think you ever know whether you’re going to win an award, so it’s a nice thing to receive. It’s not something I think you build for. We build to make sure we build the best, but this was a pool that you thought you’d be entering in awards as you went along. From day one it was going to be a great project. The design was good. The brief was right. Our input was right.

Could you give us a brief history of your journey with Aquarius Pools, how did it all begin? What launched your career?

To be honest, it was almost by accident. Back after finishing the VC in 1984, I was sailing on an international level chasing Olympic selection, coaching sailing and working in my father’s factory. The pool builders used to come and buy the formwork from my father and at the time, one of them said they were finding it hard to get labour. So I went out and started doing some work. I did a couple of years, then went out on my own. That was when my father, his partner and I, formed Aquarius Pools. When talking about what you can be proud of, I look back and think it’s been a 35-year build. We started slowly out of the back of the garage, to what it is now. We now have quite reasonable facilities, storage, offices, boardrooms and we employ twelve people plus subcontractors. It’s just been step-by-step. The other thing which I think has led us to do all of that is the integrity we bring to it. I have always been proud of being honest in business and I think that’s one of the reasons we have gone as far as we have.

It sounds like Aquarius Pools is very much a family business.

We are in a slightly transitional period now. My construction manager, Jonathan Edrupt, who has spent his career in the pool industry and has been with Aquarius Pools for the last eight years, has now become a director and is acquiring ownership of some of the business. I’ve now got a partner in the business, but it is still fundamentally a small family business.

Any particular career highlights?

A simple answer to that would be winning pool of the year three times in the last nine years. But I don’t actually see it as that. I think our vision and mission statement covers it really well. I have always said that I want to walk down the street and have clients come over and say hello, not cross the road. It may sound corny but it is really what I consider important - to be seen with integrity and honesty.

As our mission statement sums up, “To create premium quality pools and spas with our in-house team. We’re dedicated to providing pools that provide a lifetime of enjoyment whilst forming long lasting relationships with our clients and industry professionals.”

What would you say are some of the challenges you might face when creating designs, such as the pool that won?

Particularly pools that do push the creative boundaries. I think that where you don’t have a full team of people that have the same vision, it’s difficult to do. Often people think they want to build a fantastic product, but they don’t allow you the input and/or the budget to do so. In the early days we didn’t have the reputation to get credibility with architects and builders, and we maybe weren’t listened to as much as what we are now. Perhaps that’s because we’ve gained experience along the way. But now that we tend to be involved with teams, we’re given the opportunity to do it properly, as well as the budget to do it. I think that getting a team that understands that we don’t take shortcuts and that building something properly is important. Business always has its challenges over the years, none more so than COVID, and this pool was finished during the start of COVID. But I believe if you stay true to your beliefs, you can get around most challenges.

Do you have any tips for young people entering the industry?

I think it’s a really interesting question because it’s hard to employ people at the moment. We’re trying to get young people to come and work for us. One of the things that struck me was that we are close to becoming a much better industry and we have far more training on offer now from Master Pool Builders Association of Australia (MPBAA). There is a career path, and I don’t think people necessarily realise that. If you want to get good at something, it’s not going to happen overnight. You’ve got to come and put the time and effort into it if you really want to create something. I think a lot of young people now come into it, and if they cannot set the world alight really quickly, they want to move on. But if I look at my own journey, I say that it’s worth sticking with it in the long term. It’s worth putting the hard effort in to get the rewards. It’s an industry where you can move up, and you’re not just plumbing or you’re not just a chippy. We actually cover a lot of different trades and a lot of different facets. Every day is different. It’s about seeing it for what it is - enjoying a boutique industry - that is perhaps not initially seen as the most soughtafter trade, but is actually a niche industry. You can build to a high level in this industry and you can get very good at it, but you’ve got to allow yourself time to do so.

What is on the horizon for Aquarius Pools?

We continue to be excited about where we’re going. I think Jonathan coming on board has been another step forward. We’ve got a great team in-house now with preliminaries and drafting and design where it’s needed, whilst still using a lot of external designers as well. I have a saying: ‘standing still is going backwards.’ If you’re not making a conscious effort to move forward, you’re inadvertently going backwards. So for us, we still try to reinvent ourselves and be true to what we’ve done, and look forward to the next chapter.

Have you got any new or innovative pool designs currently in the pipeline?

Luckily, and I think this award has led to this, we are looking at a number of great projects with architects and builders that we’ve got great relationships with. We have just built a magnificent pool in Caveat, north of Yea, in country Victoria. We’re looking at another one up there that we may get involved in. We’ve also got exciting new things happening in the western districts as well.

What are you seeing as the new trends in pool design?

One of the things that the pool industry perhaps has the ability to consider is the environment. How can we make a product that can be as environmentally friendly as possible? Pool covers and variable speed pumps have been a great part of that. But I’ve been speaking to architects in Perth and in Sydney this week as part of one project where there’s a lot of effort being put into sustainable pools. I believe Melbourne, Australia builds the best pools in the world in terms of automation and the level we go to, but perhaps a component where Europe are ahead of us is environmentally friendly pools. If there was a trend that perhaps has opportunity that hasn’t yet been fully explored, that’d be it.

Is there anything else you’d like to add ?

We are just so proud. If I look back, I started out labouring on a pick and shovel and I think to build a business sometimes you can second guess yourself on what you achieve. It’s probably been a successful little journey that we should be very proud of. I know I’m pretty proud of that. We’ve slowly built up a little brand without getting too carried away and it’s nice to be recognised for the effort and the longevity.