Splash Oct-Nov 2014 Issue - 96

Swimming Pools / Leisure / Aquatics / Spas / Health

Issue 96  October/November 2014

Jewel in the desert The pool straddling a mesa Aboveground pools New technology and improved materials The Gold Coast Aquatic Centre Dress rehearsal for the Comm Games Peace at last SPASA re-unites

Take a closer look at HAYWARD, visit www.hayward-pool.com.au

ENERGY RATING A joint government and industry program Hayward TriStar VS Pump, Model: SP3215VS Variable Speed Efficiency L/Wh

Flow Rate L/min

Head m

Power W

Noise dBA

58.38

120.99

2.63

124.36

48.7

Energy consumption

313

kWh per year To pump 50,000 litres/day When tested in accordance with AS 5102.2.

Actual energy use and running costs will depend on how you use the appliance.

Compare models at www.energyrating.gov.au

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© Hayward Pool Products (Australia) Pty Ltd ABN: 66 083 413 414. P.O. Box 4384, Dandenong South, VIC., 3164. P: 1300 POOLS1 F: 1300 POOLS2. Melbourne | Sydney | Brisbane | Perth www.hayward-pool.com.au, sales@hayward-pool.com.au

or call 1300 POOLS1

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GAS HEATERS

CHLORINATORS

ROBOTIC CLEANERS

HEAT PUMPS

Universal H-series™

Salt & Swim™3C

TigerShark QC™

EnergyPro™

These low profile, lightweight, low NOx heaters come standard with cupronickel heat exchangers and industry leading hydraulic performance, that allows heating on energy saving low pump speeds.

This low profile plug & play, salt chlorine generator works on a low salt level of 3200ppm and low flow requirements down to 60 lpm so that you can sanitise on energy saving low pump speeds.

These rugged robotic cleaners utilise a true pleated cartridge filtration system and a large debris canister and will run for the normal 4 hour cleaning cycle or 90 minute Quick Clean (QC).

This unit is a temperature manger as it not only heats pools up, it will cool them down in mid summer. Also features touch pad controls, Titanium heat exchanger and very quiet operation.

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64

Contents 58

27

Slight improvement on pool drowning numbers Royal Life Saving’s National Drowning Report 2014 shows that while some progress is being made towards the 2020 targets, figures for the 0-4 age group are still very high.

28

The man at the helm of SPASA Australia SPLASH! discusses future plans with the new SPASA Australia CEO, Gary Nye.

Testing the waters for the Commonwealth Games In August, hundreds of swimmers from around the Pacific basin came to the newly rebuilt Gold Coast Aquatic Centre at Southport to contest the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships and provide a dress rehearsal for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

34

31

The role of industry associations Cal Stanley asks not what you can gain from association membership, but how you can give something back to improve the industry that provides your living.

46

34

regulars

Reaching for higher ground Kim Kamarudin looks at new concepts, methods and materials that are seeing the humble aboveground pool maintain its place in a competitive market.

News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Pool DAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

46

Global news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

A slice of ocean This amazing swimming pool is like a slither of ocean elevated to a rocky Cyclades clifftop, creating an almost mythical visage under which the residents live.

Expo news. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Industry moves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Commercial news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Tenders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

50

The New Zealand pool awards The top swimming pool designs from the New Zealand Master Pool Builders. As usual, there are some outstanding entries.

64

Jewel in the desert The beautiful, remote Amangiri resort in Utah boasts one of the most dramatic landscapes in the USA with deep canyons and towering plateaux. It also boasts an equally dramatic swimming pool built around a rocky outcrop.

New products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

50

Ad index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

October-November 2014 SPLASH! 7

Just the

Good news for sick pools FEATURES Removes phosphate, a food source for algae, and other unwanted contaminants from pool water Clarifies pool water Binds particles that are too small for normal filtration

BENEFITS Removes skin oils, rain pollution dirt, pet dander, pollen, greases, dust, lotions and hair-care products.

Eco-friendly product, made with natural ingredients.

Better for the environment.

www.biolabpoolcare.com.au

Published by The Intermedia Group Pty Ltd ABN 940 025 83 682 41 Bridge Road, Glebe, NSW, 2037 Australia Ph: (02) 9660 2113 Fax: (02) 9660 4419 Managing Director: Simon Grover Managing Director Interpoint Events: Simon Cooper Editor: Chris Maher Phone: 0412 048 639 Email: chrismaher@intermedia.com.au

editorial Hope in uncertain times

Contributors: Cal Stanley, Kim Kamarudin Advertising Manager: Karen Jaques Phone: (02) 8586 6135 Email: kjaques@intermedia.com.au Designer: Adrian Tipper Production Manager: Carly Saillard

Most of us wish for a predictable life. Predictably good, if possible, but even if there has to be bad – which of course there does – then it would be nice to know when it’s coming.

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But right now things seem in a bit of upheaval. The federal budget has stalled, the dollar is roller-coasting, business and consumer confidence fluctuates and there is talk of a war with an undefined purpose and cost. All this leaves the greater population – including the suburban swimmers – feeling vaguely insecure.

Even the weather doesn’t seem to know what it’s doing, as can be seen from the storms rattling August’s Pan Pacs on the “always sunny” Gold Coast. (We have a detailed story on the new pool and how it handled the event on page 58.)

Chris Maher Editor chrismaher@ intermedia.com.au

But there are some positive signs. The Bureau of Meteorology says the outlook to December is for drier and warmer weather on the east coast and parts of WA. That would generally mean more people interested in buying and using pools.

Also, the available pool DA numbers show a gradual incline, and while they are not comprehensive figures by any means, it is better that they give a positive tilt than a negative one.

And on the association front, the nearly two-year SPASA dispute seems to be finally put to rest. Although details still need to be worked out, the overall mood appears very positive, which is of course good news for the whole industry. There is more on this story on page 10.

In uncertain times, contingency planning helps. In an interview on page 28, new SPASA Australia CEO Gary Nye offers a piece of advice for those coming into the pool and spa industry: ours is a seasonal industry and you must make hay while the sun shines. Work hard in summer; put something away for winter.

This issue of SPLASH! magazine published by The Intermedia Group Pty Ltd (Intermedia) may contain magazine or subscription; offers, competitions, forms and surveys (Reader Offers) which require you to provide information about yourself, if you choose to enter or take part in them. If you provide information about yourself to Intermedia, Intermedia will use this information to provide you with the products of services you have requested and may supply your information to contractors that help Intermedia to do this. Intermedia will also use your information to inform you of other Intermedia publications, products, services and events. Intermedia may give your information to organisations that are providing special prizes or offers that are clearly associated with the Reader Offer. Unless you tell us not to, we may give your information to other organisations that may use it to inform you about other products, services or events or to give it to other organisations that may use it for this purpose. If you would like to gain access to the information Intermedia holds about you, please contact Intermedia’s Privacy Officer at The Intermedia Group Pty Ltd, PO Box 55, Glebe, NSW 2037.

We don’t always know what’s around the corner, so it’s best to plan – if not necessarily for a hurricane, then at least for the occasional storm.

Copyright © 2014 - The Intermedia Group Pty Ltd.

SPLASH! contains NO advertorial.

This issue’s cover

Swimming Pools / Leisure / Aquatics / Spas / Health

Proudly supported by Issue 96

The views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily represent those of the above supporters, nor should any product advertised in SPLASH! magazine be seen to be endorsed by the above.

October-November 2014

The beautiful, remote Amangiri Resort in Utah features an amazing swimming pool that seems to straddle the imposing rocky outcrop of a 200 million year old mesa. There is more on this pool and resort on page 64.

Members of Jewel in the desert The pool straddling a mesa Aboveground pools New technology and improved materials The Gold Coast Aquatic Centre Dress rehearsal for the Comm Games Peace at last SPASA re-unites

Audited Circulation Average Net Distribution Per Issue 5,835 CAB Half Yearly Audit Period ending 31st March 2014

October-November 2014

SPLASH!

9

news

Associations

Peace at last: Alliance and SPRAA join SPASA Australia The SPASA Wars are over after the Swimming Pool Retail Association of Australia (SPRAA) merged with SPASA Australia, and the Alliance agreed to join the board to represent their NSW and ACT members.

The joint announcement by the three associations appears to draw a line under the dispute between the Swimming Pool & Spa Association of New South Wales Limited (currently trading as the Swimming Pool & Spa Alliance) and the Swimming Pool & Spa Association of Australia (SPASA Australia Ltd) which began nearly two years ago in December 2012.

Leading industry members have been expressing a desire for a resolution to this dispute for a long time and the announcement is seen as a highly positive development for the whole industry. The decision was agreed unanimously by the SPASA Australia board.

Additionally, the merger of SPRAA into SPASA Australia means there will now be one association to represent the entire swimming pool and spa industry nationally.

SPASA Australia president Lynley Papineau says that the industry has been fragmented for some time and it is pleasing to be able to unite the membership once again.

“This will bring a combined membership of over 1250 businesses between the states and the national association,” she says.

“The SPASA Australia board voted unanimously to proceed in this direction and see this as the beginning of a new united era. We look forward to providing our members with national representation in a co-ordinated manner and deliver on the needs and wants of each sector of the industry.”

SPRAA members voted on the merger at their August AGM and SPRAA president John O’Brien will take a seat on the SPASA Australia board.

“In recent times, the associations have been working together on industry matters and we are particularly pleased with the formation of National Sector Groups that will ensure that all sectors, Builders, Suppliers and the Retail/Aftermarket are appropriately represented,” he says.

“I’m delighted to have been asked to take on the additional role of the inaugural chairperson of the Retail/Aftermarket National Sector Group.”

A box of water This amazing inbuilt spa looks like a solid body of water sitting above the pool. It won the most innovative pool or spa award for Personal Pools at the recent SPASA Victoria Awards. There is more on the awards on page 48.

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SPLASH!

October-November 2014

Swimming Pool & Spa Alliance president Rob Guthrie says the Alliance has always recognised and promoted the need for a cohesive and effective national body to represent all sectors of the industry.

“We have been in discussions with the other bodies since 2013 to work toward this,” he says.

“We are pleased with the development of SPASA Australia and the new board structure including changes to the constitution that have facilitated the ongoing effectiveness of the national association. We are particularly encouraged that the associations are coming together as this provides a stronger approach to the issues and opportunities that affect the industry.”

Papineau says that SPASA Australia’s new CEO Gary Nye will work with both SPRAA and the Swimming Pool & Spa Alliance to plan and implement the integration of the associations.

“The new board seats will be take affect from October 7, however the full integration will not be complete until early in the New Year,” she says.

SPLASH! understands there are still many details to be worked out, and a comprehensive discussion will take place next month with the involvement of all SPASA Australia board members. We will update this story in the next printed issue of SPLASH! and online when more information is available.

o-September 2014

July Aug Sep

news

Timeline of the SPASA saga Mid-1970s: The Council of Australian Swimming Pool Associations (CASPA) is formed with two delegates from each state meeting twice a year.

1988: The first version of the Swimming Pool & Spa Association of Australia (SPASA Australia Ltd) is formed.

1996: Following considerable losses on a national convention in Hawaii and office equipment leases, SPASA Australia Ltd (Version 1) goes into liquidation.

August 26, 2009: The Swimming Pool Retail Association of Australia (SPRAA) is formed to represent the interests of pool and spa shops and to promote a career pathway.

August 11, 2011: The second version of the Swimming Pool & Spa Association of Australia Ltd is launched. Its main focus is to react to national issues as they arise.

December 5, 2012: Wanting a more proactive national voice, the Swimming Pool & Spa Association of NSW relaunches itself as the Swimming Pool & Spa Alliance of Australia (SPASA Australia). The move causes ructions in the industry, kicking off what becomes known as the SPASA Wars.

December 16, 2012: The four non-NSW states reject the Alliance and remain supportive of SPASA Australia Ltd. January 22, 2013: Favouring negotiation, SPASA Australia Ltd company secretary Cal Stanley resigns in protest at proposed legal action against SPASA NSW.

Warm numbers over cool months Swimming pool development application (DA) numbers for the 12 months up to September 2014 as reported by Cordell show an increase of seven per cent compared to the corresponding period up to September 2013. The three months of July, August and September 2014, when compared with the same period in 2013, show numbers up a considerable 20 percent.

New South Wales (+24 per cent), Queensland (+4 per cent) and South Australia (+6 per cent) showed gains on the annual numbers, while Victoria (-1 per cent) and Western (-5 per cent) Australia dropped off slightly.

We continue to remind readers that these numbers are not comprehensive and are only meant to offer a trend indication.

The numbers shown here are likely to be considerably lower than the actual number of pools being constructed – look to the disclaimer at the bottom of this column for more information.

However, the manner in which both the 2013 and 2104 numbers were collated is similar, so the comparison is worth considering.

12 months-to-September 2013

3500 1200

2000

12 months-to-September 2014

12 months-to-September 2013

Ju 3000 2500 2000 1500

2000

July 30, 2013: Lynley Papineau, SPASA WA president and executive 300 director of Aquatic Leisure Technologies, is unanimously elected inaugural SPASA Australia president.

Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sep

September 4, 2013: The court case is resolved with previous resolutions confirmed: the Alliance can continue but cannot call 12 months-to-September 2014 12 months-to-September 2013acronym itself SPASA Australia.

It instead uses the SPASA. 4000

3500 The four non-NSW state SPASA bodies agree to March 12, 2014: 3000 one entity as SPASA Australia, and reveal a plan incorporate into for national sector groups.

2500 2000

July 17, 2014: At SPLASH! on the Gold Coast, SPASA Australia 1500 holds a National Sector Forum to discuss the concept of national 1000 sector groups with the industry, and holds the inaugural SPASA 500 Australia Awards Gala. Both events are considered to be successful.

SA

August 21, 2014: Former SPRAA president and Clark Rubber COO Gary Nye is named SPASA Australia’s first fulltime CEO. October 8, 2014: The SPASA Wars appear to be over as SPRAA merges with SPASA Australia and the Alliance accepts a board position to represent NSW and ACT members.

0

Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sep

3000

600

WA

1000

4000

2500

QLD

1500

500 0

900 June 24, 2013: SPASA Australia creates a part-time manager position and appoints David Syme to the role.

VIC

2500

600

3500

NSW

3000

900

March 26, 2013: SPASA Australia Ltd commits itself to a new 1200 proactive agenda but excludes SPASA NSW (the Alliance).

0

4000

300

February 5, 2013: The legal action provides interim resolutions with both sides claiming victory: the Swimming Pool & Spa Alliance of 12 months-to-September 2013 12 months-to-September 2014 Australia1500 can continue but cannot call itself SPASA Australia.

0

12 months-to-September 2014

1500

1500

1000

1000 500

500 0

NSW

VIC

July to September 2013

QLD

WA

0

SA

July to September 2014

3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0

While these figures give an indication of the way the market is trending, they are not comprehensive and don’t include all pools built or even all DAs lodged. By some estimates, the total national numbers including all types of pools could be as much as double these figures. They do not include pool projects that are approved as part of a new home, smaller projects under the cost threshold, renovations that don’t require a DA, or some aboveground pools. Additionally, not all councils are forthcoming with data; councils in some states such as Queensland and Victoria are particularly reluctant. For further information, call Cordell Information on 1800 80 60 60.

October-November 2014 SPLASH!

11

news

Contracts

Queensland PC queries answered SPASA Queensland has answered some questions regarding its contracts and written variations.

SPASA says that all the documents associated with the contract and the contract itself are clear that excavation and cartage costs are provisional only and the cost to the customer will be based on the contractor’s cost plus contractor’s margin.

The customer therefore may be asked to pay more if the provisional sum is exceeded or may be given a benefit if it is less.

Craig Sawford is a Senior Counsel, Building & Construction at CPB Lawyers. He was asked: “Is it necessary for the contractor to issue a written variation to the customer as soon as it becomes clear that the provisional sum will be exceeded and thus give the customer an opportunity to halt or delay work; or, is it not necessary for the contractor to provide a written variation at all on this matter?”

He responded as follows.

The provisions of the SPASA Queensland contract that deal with Prime Cost/Provisional Sum Items (clauses 12 & 13) comply with the minimum requirements of the Domestic Building Contracts Act (DBCA) in respect of such allowances in a contract. The obligations on the contractor essentially are:

1. Firstly there is an obligation on the contractor to ensure that the allowances were reasonable (i.e.) based upon a quote from a subcontractor or based on rates that are reasonable; 2. Assuming 1. is satisfied, the contractor can either claim the adjustment in a progress claim or separately invoice the adjustment; and 3. The Contractor is required to provide supporting evidence for the additional claim with the progress claim or invoice – such evidence would be the invoice from the subcontractor or supplier.

These are the only obligations in respect of PC/PS allowances. So in answer to your question, there is no requirement to raise a variation for the PC/PS adjustment and there is no need to wait for anything to be signed by the owner before proceeding with the work.

However, where an option exists (e.g.) giving the owner the option to select something less expensive or changing the works, I would always have the owner confirm in writing before proceeding. If the result is a substantial change in the pool, the contractor should prepare a variation and have the owner sign it before proceeding. That variation should also deal with how the PC/PS is affected by the change.

Contact: www.cbp.com.au

Mirror mirror

You will rarely find DIY pool projects in SPLASH! because we believe that job belongs to the professionals. This is an exception, as the person doing the job is Ben Thompson, owner of NSW company Sunset Pools.

While it is a common refrain that builders’ homes are often the ones most in need of maintenance and improvement, because they’re always working on other people’s jobs, Thompson dedicated considerable time to his family’s home with this pool and spa.

The pool features a number of stateof-the art ideas including smartphone control, thermal efficiency and a special focus on child safety, as well as an integrated drinks cabinet and an après-swim outdoor shower.

As the available space is quite small, a key addition is the use of mirrors to make the pool and even the garden look bigger.

Keep informed by subscribing to the free online newsletter.

1. Aquatic centre evacuated after chlorine incident The Joondalup Leisure Centre at Craigie in north Perth was evacuated following a chlorine incident in August.

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SPLASH!

Top five online news stories

The most popular online news stories at splashmagazine.com.au were...

2. The most profitable pool products of the future One of the series of video interviews: Matt Kimball talks about international product development in the swimming pool and spa industry.

October-November 2014

3. Global leader discusses pool & spa industry future Another in the video series: Clark Hale talks about the future of the swimming pool industry.

4. Pool Corp buys majority interest in Pool Systems The world’s largest wholesaler of pool supplies has leapt into the Australian market, while Pool Systems buys Niagara.

5. Zodiac Pool Solutions clarifies filing question Zodiac explained that recent UK and US filings will have no negative impact on their customers, suppliers or employees.

news

Upcoming events

IntellIgent pool automatIon and energy management

2014 Oct 20-24

Interbad, Stuttgart, Germany

Nov 2-7

International Pool Spa Patio Expo and Conference, Orlando, Florida

Nov 12

SPASA Victoria AGM

Nov 18-21

Piscine Global, Lyon, France

Nov 24-30

Swim Australia Swim Safer Week

Dec 1-4

Canadian Pool & Spa Conference & Expo, Toronto

Dec 6-14

Salon Piscine e Bien Etre, Paris

2015 Jan 22-24

UK Pool & Spa Expo, Birmingham, UK

Jan 27-29

Atlantic City Pool and Spa Show, New Jersey USA

Jan 30 - Feb 1 Victorian Consumer Spa & Pool Show, Melbourne Feb 1-3

Spatex, Coventry, UK

Feb 2-6

Aquatherm, Moscow

Feb 19-21

Forum Piscine, Bologna Italy

Mar 3

SPASA Victoria Golf Day, Kingston Links

Mar 4-7

Piscine Expo, Morocco

Mar 26-28

Aquatherm-Egyptpool 2015, Cairo, Egypt

Mar 26-29

QPS 2015 International Exhibition for Pool & Spa, Doha

May 20-21

Piscine SPLASH! Asia, Singapore

May 23

SPASA Victoria Gala Dinner, Plaza Ballroom

May 23-24

Consumer Pool Spa and Outdoor Living Expo, Brisbane

Jun 21-23

SPLASH! NZ, Auckland

Oct 20-23

Piscina Barcelona

Oct 27-30

Aquanale, Cologne, Germany

More details, dates and links are available at splashmagazine.com.au.

These dates are subject to change and should be checked with the relevant organisation. Please send calendar submissions to chrismaher@intermedia.com.au

• Fingertip control via a LCD touch panel • One touch switching between pool and spa modes • Pool and spa water, outside air temperature display • Automated management of energy saving equipment • Integrated pool heating for solar, heat pumps and gas heaters.

www.waterco.com For more information, please contact your nearest Waterco branch for more details and availability.

NSW 02 9898 8686 SA 08 8244 6000

Qld 07 3299 9900 WA 08 9273 1900

vic 03 9764 1211 NZ 09 525 7570

October-November 2014 SPLASH!

13

news

Awards

Global news A service tech died while repairing a pool light in Florida. Ryan Cook, an employee of Cox Pools, was discovered unconscious at the bottom of a Florida pool by a co-worker, Jeremy Fields.

PSN reports that Fields told police he left the pool to get some lights and when he returned, Cook was lying on the bottom of the pool. He pulled the 27-year-old from the water and the homeowner called emergency services. They attempted to revive him but he died later at hospital. A black electric line with bare ends was seen inside the pool. Fields stated that the breakers were turned off and that he didn’t know how Cook ended up in the bottom of the pool.

A Bay County forensic investigator said the case is still open, pending a toxicology report.

Meanwhile, a Florida family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit after seven-year-old Calder Sloan was electrocuted in the family swimming pool. Companies including the builder, light manufacturer, installer and maintenance contractor are being sued for what the family says includes faulty pool light wiring and unsatisfactory maintenance amongst other deficiencies.

The lawsuit claims the source of the fault was an overheating wire, and that other fail-safe mechanisms were either not installed or failed to work, allowing 125 volts to go into the water rather than just 12 volts.

14

SPLASH!

October-November 2014

Industry CEO rated among Australia’s top women

Australian Innovative Systems (AIS) CEO Elena Gosse has been recognised as one of the 2014 Australian Financial Review and Westpac 100 Women of Influence.

She was recognised in the Business Enterprise category for her leadership in steering AIS’ s strategy and direction to make it a national and international business success.

The Brisbane based, 100-per-cent-owned and operated Australian business has prospered under Gosse’s guidance of almost 20 years to become a multi-award winning, multi-million dollar business which is recognised as a leader in the design, production and supply of commercial and residential chlorine generators and water disinfection technology.

“To be selected as one of the 100 Women of Influence in Australia, and in such illustrious company, is truly humbling,” she says.

“I am so looking forward to meeting the other 99 winners in Sydney where we will then learn who takes out top honours in the ten award categories and who the overall winner for the year will be.

“I hope that my experience as a Russian immigrant coming to Australia, learning English, deciding to further my education, and then becoming CEO in an industry that was completely foreign to me can serve as an example to other women that it is possible to achieve your goals and control your own destiny – providing you never give up.”

Now in its third year, the 100 Women of Influence Awards celebrates outstanding women from a wide variety of sectors across Australia.

There are ten categories: Board/Management, Public Policy, Young Leader, Social Enterprise and Not-for-profit, Philanthropy, Global Influence, Innovation, Local/Regional Community, Diversity

and Business Enterprise. Entrants are recognised based on their outstanding ability to demonstrate vision, leadership, innovation and action in and beyond their fields.

Meanwhile Gosse and AIS also won Gold and Silver Stevie Awards in the 2014 International Business Awards.

Gosse took out top honours winning the Gold Award for Executive of the Year – Manufacturing.

AIS has also been awarded a Silver Award for Most Innovative Company of the Year in Asia and Oceania.

More than 3500 nominations were received from more than 60 nations and territories in the 11th Annual International Business Awards which form the world’s premier business awards program.

Winners will be honoured at a gala awards banquet at the Westin Paris Vendôme Hotel, France in October.

“In the past 15 years the world’s population has grown by over one billion people and global economic output has more than doubled. Earth’s finite water reserves are facing increased human and industrial activity impacts which means more germs and bacteria are entering the water which is bad for civilisation and the planet,” she says.

“We must keep our water safe and healthy. Inline chlorination is not only convenient and automatic but stops the endless cycle of traditional chlorine dosing and the storage and handling risks associated with dangerous chemicals.”

Gossse also pays tribute to AIS’s 60-plus employees who work in a range of roles including administration, management, micro-electronics, chemistry, power systems, electrical and mechanical engineering, water system design, assembly, metalworking and plumbing.

Contact: www.100wmenofinfluence.com.au; www.StevieAwards.com

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4WD

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LIFT YOUR GAME

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The Zodiac V4 4WD robotic pool cleaner is engineered to provide the ultimate pool cleaning experience.

Its patented Vortex technology offers performance that blows other cleaners out of the water. Take control with the kinetic remote or utilise one of the intelligent, pre-programmed, cleaning modes. Either way when it's done cleaning the patented Lift System ensures the V4 4WD practically gets out of the pool itself!

To learn more on how to lift your cleaners game visit www.zodiac.com.au/robotic.

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news

Giveaway

Pools: design and form in water This new pictorial book by photographer Miquel Tres focusses on swimming pools from around the world. It features spectacular full colour images and detailed descriptions.

Pools can help identify trends by showcasing a wide selection of pool designs and styles: from natural chemical-free pools and rustic pools utilising local materials to contemporary designer pools for interior and exterior spaces.

Miquel Tres is a travel photographer who also specialises in interior design and garden

photography. His images are published regularly in Spanish, Italian, German, French and English language magazines.

Contact: www.imagespublishinggroup.com SPLASH! has a copy of Pools to give away. All you have to do is Like the SPLASH Facebook page to be part of the competition. There will be more information in the free SPLASH! online newsletter. Go to splashmagazine.com.au to make sure you’re receiving the newsletter.

Retail

Swimart retailers gathers in KL

Swimart recently recognised and rewarded its best performers at the 2014 Swimart Australasian Conference, at the culmination of a week of activities in Malaysia.

Delegates began the week with a visit to Waterco’s Kuala Lumpur factory and a series of interactive workshops, followed by a conference in Penang with presentations on sales and marketing, customer segmentation, chemical education and business growth strategies.

Chris Fitzmaurice, Swimart’s Australasian manager, says the annual awards help promote best practice across all areas of the business.

“The friendly rivalry between stores encourages them to keep stretching and improving their service offerings and customer relations, which ultimately benefits customers,” he says. “The aim is to recognise and encourage stores to reach their full potential. The star performers are then acknowledged among their peers for going above and beyond the standard ‘call of duty’.”

Queensland’s Swimart Woree was the top performer for the year, taking out two prestigious Australasian gongs for Franchisee of the Year and Marketer of the Year. They also garnered another four state awards for their efforts.

2014 Swimart Australasian Award Winners Citizen of the Year: Cleveland Best Presented Business: Rouse Hill Marketer of the Year: Woree Retailer of the Year: Cheltenham Best Sales Growth Franchise: Charmhaven Most Improved Franchise: Minchinbury Franchisee of the Year: Woree Contact: www.swimart.com.au 16

SPLASH!

October-November 2014

Excavation

Secmo moves into Brisbane Semco Equipment Sales has opened a new sales and service centre in Brisbane. The establishment of Semco’s Brisbane office is the latest move in the company’s expansion and follows the opening last year of the Melbourne office.

Semco’s Satch Santilli says the company’s heavy investment in the Takeuchi brand was a major consideration in the expansion.

“Our customers will benefit from the enormous resources and experience of our sales, parts and service teams in supporting Takeuchi,” he says.

In addition to Takeuchi, Semco Queensland will be selling other products imported and distributed by Semco: Terex loader backhoes and Fiori Self-loading concrete batchers and dumpers.

Attachment lines include U.Emme mixers, brooms and laser blades as well as the new Rokla Rockwheel twin header line and all the popular brands of locally-sourced attachments.

Santilli says its location at 21 Machinery Street, Darra was selected after careful consideration for easy road access for its customers and space for equipment demonstration, pre-sale preparation and service.

Sales from the Brisbane regional office are being managed by Steve Lissa, while parts are managed by Manfred Hitchins. Both have an extensive background in the equipment industry. Other dealer appointments will be made progressively in key centres throughout North Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Semco has branches/outlets in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Newcastle and Goulburn as well as supporting dealers in Tasmania and South Australia.

Contact: (07) 3375 6999

news

Safety

Expo News SPLASH! New Zealand will be held on June 21-23, 2015 at the ASB Showgrounds in Auckland, and will be once again co-located with BuildNZ and Designex. This will be the fifth edition of the biannual New Zealand show and there will be a dedicated SPLASH! area on the expo floor as well as industry seminars for pool shop owners and

pool technicians. Contact Karen Jaques on kjaques@ intermedia.com.au for details and the latest floor plan.

November’s Piscine Global in Lyon will have a special focus on spas, with organisers saying that while the spa market is still minimal, representing just 20 per cent of the total pool market, it is growing steadily.

Expos

Victorian pool buyers keen to spend up to $50k The consumer Spa & Pool Show held at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre in August was hailed a success

by SPASA Victoria, saying the 61 participating members enjoyed a constant flow of consumers seeking ideas, information and advice on the latest trends and new product releases.

Exit survey statistics show that: • 78 per cent of visitors were actively seeking to make a purchase of a pool or spa within the next six months, with a budget of up to $50,000 • 91 per cent will ensure they use a SPASA member for their purchase • 50 per cent of attendees had chosen the SPASA Spa & Pool Show as their first exhibition to attend when researching the best pool or spa to suit their needs, up from 15 per cent in 2013 SPASA says the attendance has been consistent over the past three years and member feedback has been very positive. They also say that the substantial advertising campaign executed to promote the show benefits the whole industry by encouraging pool and spa purchases and putting the industry top of mind.

The SPASA brand and the value of pool and spa ownership is widely promoted to all Victorians through TV, print, radio and digital.

The next Victorian consumer show will be held on January 30 to February 1, 2015.

78 per cent of visitors were actively seeking to make a purchase of a pool or spa within the next six months

Alliance foresees trouble with mutual recognition The Swimming Pool and Spa Alliance has recently submitted a detailed submission to the Building Professionals Board (BPB) regarding the accreditation of swimming pool certifiers in NSW. While much that is raised in the comprehensive submission has been discussed previously in SPLASH!, it raises an interesting new point regarding the proposed mutual recognition of Queensland certifiers.

The submission provides a background to the Queensland experience. When swimming pool barrier inspections first commenced in Queensland, it was originally proposed that the pool safety inspections would only be conducted by licensed Building Certifiers and staff of the local councils.

However, with approximately 300,000 existing swimming pools and a high percentage not complying with the new pool safety standard, it became evident that limiting persons authorised to conduct inspections would mean insufficient resources resulting in enormous delays in the certification process.

Consquently, it became necessary to introduce a new licence category of Pool Safety Inspector.

To apply for a Pool Safety Inspector license in Queensland, interested parties simply need to complete a qualification or statement of attainment issued by a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) that delivers the ‘Accredited’ 31005QLD ‘Course in Swimming Pool Safety Inspections’ as well as hold the required professional indemnity insurance.

The Alliance’s submission refers to a BPB brochure that states “licensed swimming pool safety inspectors from Queensland will be able to apply to the Board for accreditation under the Mutual Recognition Act (NSW) 1992 to work as an E1 private certifier in NSW.” The Alliance submits the mutual recognition proposal in its current form is unsound, unworkable and detrimental to the NSW industry, homeowners and to the overarching principal of achieving compliance.

Of key concern is that interested parties wishing to apply to become a Pool Safety Inspector in Queensland only need complete a qualification or statement of attainment issued by an RTO delivering the 31005QLD - ‘Course in Swimming Pool Safety Inspections’ as well as holding the required professional indemnity insurance.

Many Pool Safety Inspectors in Queensland are not builders, pool builders, pool and spa technicians or even from the construction or property industry, but will be able to access mutual recognition in NSW. The Alliance questions why swimming pool and spa technicians located in Queensland should be able to apply to become pool safety inspectors and then access mutual recognition when the same class of person in NSW is completely excluded.

Pool Safety Inspectors in Queensland operate and have been trained under Australian Standard AS1926.1-2007 whereas NSW has adopted Australian Standard 1926.1-2012.

The Alliance says that differences between the two Standards, Act, Regulation, Building Code of Australia and dissimilar governmental policy principals provide an unworkable and confusing message for the industry, tradespeople and homeowners.

Also worth considering is what disciplinary or complaints process will mutual recognised participants fall under: the BPB in NSW or the Pool Safety Council in Queensland?

However, if it goes one way, the Alliance argues it should also go the other, and says it is not unreasonable to expect the BPB to have established a reciprocal mutual recognition arrangement with the pool safety council in Queensland.

Contact: www.spasa.org.au

18

SPLASH!

October-November 2014

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news

Industry moves

Lincoln appoints new BDM Lincoln Pool Equipment has appointed Colin Nash as its new business development manager.

Nash has been involved in the pool industry for eight years, initially as general manager for sales and marketing at Davey Water Products before moving on to run his own water management consultancy. He currently chairs the Rainwater Harvesting Association of Australia.

He will be based at the Melbourne head office and be involved with the launch of Lincoln’s new products, including expansion of the Stanley brand product range, implementation of a commercial Distribution

SR Smith appoints IQ

International Quadratics (IQ) & Pierce Pool Supplies has been appointed the exclusive national distributor for SR Smith’s entire product range including their newly acquired Anti-Wave range.

IQ are no strangers to SR Smith, as the company has been distributing the SR Smith disability lifts into the Australian commercial market for a number of years. IQ is also the largest distributor of Anti Wave’s product in Australia.

Managing director of SR Smith Australia Keith Hall says that IQ and Pierce Pool Supplies is a natural fit.

“Their understanding and handson approach to the domestic and commercial market is a comfort of great value. We know customers will be looked after and the product represented well,” he says.

The new product range includes: • Artesian style stainless steel hand rails and ladders • High end pool slides and games • Quality domestic diving boards IQ marketing manager Eddie Lloyd says he is excited to be able to support the release of these new products to Australian shores.

“All the products are highly visually appealing and offer first class finishing. We will be launching an introductory offer to pool shops and builders very soon, so watch this space.”

division and further expansion of the Waterway range of products.

This appointment is an important part of Lincoln’s growth plans over the coming years, following the recently announced expansion of the Sydney operation.

Lincoln Pool Equipment was established in 1974 and this year will mark its 40th anniversary.

The business has been with the current ownership for the past 12 years and in that time has relocated twice in Melbourne to meet growing demand.

Industry moves

Two new Pentair staff

Rob Wilson has been appointed Pentair Aquatics Systems account manager for New South Wales. He previously worked briefly with Monarch in early 2007, before taking up an opportunity to play cricket in England.

Upon his return from England, Wilson had a rental/sales manager role in the two-way radio industry for seven years with a Sydney based company where he developed his range of account management skills and the desire to join a bigger firm such as Pentair. In his spare time, Wilson still enjoys cricket as well as rugby league and spending weekends with friends and family.

Jasmine Heaney has been appointed Pentair Aquatics Systems account manager for South Australia and the Northern Territory.

She grew up in Adelaide and Alice Springs and spent the majority of her eight-year career in the irrigation industry working in sales and marketing roles for Turf & Irrigation, Chapman & Rivett, Butlers Pumps and Irrigation/Thinkwater.

Over the past few years she has completed a Bachelor of Health Science and had been working as a histology technologist in a pathology laboratory.

Heaney says she is excited to be part of the Pentair team and is looking forward to growing the brand in her region.

Industry moves Australian chlorinator and valve manufacturer Aquamaid is up for sale.

The company has been trading since 1974 and is now on the market with a good lease and high profile service shop.

The sale is on a walk-in walk-out basis. Aquamaid makes salt chlorinators, PVC ball valves and check valves and has a large customer service list. It is also the sole Australian and New Zealand agent for SiderCrete’s SiderOxydro pool surface finish and Fibalon filter media.

The business is in a high profile location with plenty of passing traffic and a good lease. Ian Bevan can be contacted by mail at PO Box 271, Patterson Lakes, VIC, 3197.

SPASA Victoria membership manager, Asher Newton has recently accepted a senior role with OAMPS Insurance and has moved on from the association where he had contributed for nearly four years.

Blue Haven MD, Remonda Martinez has been named a finalist in the 2014 CEO Magazine Executive of the Year Awards. The 36-yearold mother of three is the only female finalist in the construction category. Martinez is the daughter of industry stalwart Ray Awadallah who started the Blue Haven Pools business in the 1970s.

Contact: eddie@interquad.com.au October-November 2014 SPLASH!

21

news

Obituary

NZ pioneer BJ Smith passes away In Brief The interpretation and recent enforcement of existing regulations

by Victoria’s industry regulator (the VBA) has brought common existing industry practices under the microscope.

Specifically, where more than one element of work takes place and the value of the work exceeds $5000, then there is the strong likelihood that this work should be carried out by a registered building practitioner. This would apply to people who carry out replacement or upgrading of swimming pool or spa equipment (pumps, filters, chlorinators, heaters etc); painting, rendering or plastering swimming pools; laying waterline tiles, replacing broken tiles, or changing the suction covers in a swimming pool or spa; and/or re-laying coping tiles or paving.

Traditionally, nonstructural work has not necessitated registration as a registered building practitioner. However, independent legal advice provided to SPASA Victoria and subsequent feedback from the VBA indicates that a large number of members may be unknowingly undertaking work that requires them, by law, to be registered building practitioners. For more information contact SPASA Victoria on (03) 9501 2040 or the VBA’s Building Practitioners Board on 1300 815 127 or by email at bpb@vba.vic.gov.au.

22

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October-November 2014

Kiwi pool industry pioneer Brian “BJ” Smith passed away in August aged 88.

In 1972, Brian Smith, Bernie Menzies, Rob Smith and Larry Ogden formed Cascade Swimming Pools (NZ) Limited.

Not wanting to participate in the rapid expansion plans that Cascade was developing during those early days, Brian Smith and Bernie Menzies sold their 50 per cent share to Rob Smith and Larry Ogden, in the process gaining two new powder-blue and white 1972 model Ford Falcons.

Smith and Menzies then started Swimming Pool Services Limited in Greenlane, Auckland.

They specialised in servicing public swimming pool filration systems, general maintenance and pool service. They built their own Kiwi Ingenuity gunite pump machine, which they installed onto the back of an old army surplus General Motors truck, and they sprayed some of Auckland’s first gunite concrete pools.

They sprayed between two and four pools per year in the early days, gradually increasing numbers as home pools gained popularity. Brian’s wife Margaret and son and daughter assisted them in the pool business.

Swimming Pool Services Limited continued to build gunite and sell Cascade swimming pools as an agent. Menzies died in about 1980. After his death,

the Smiths opened their own pool company, Poolworld Limited, in Pakuranga’s Ti Rakau Drive, adding the Eastern Auckland franchise for Cascade’s offshoot company Champion Pools New Zealand to their pool construction portfolio.

In 1985 Poolworld merged with Cascade Swimming Pools to form Cascade’s Poolworld Limited until in 1990 (following the “Great Depression” of the 1987-1992 years) it was split into two separate companies once again.

Smith continued at the Ti Rakau site until 1985 when he sold out to two young entrepreneurs, and the business was eventually absorbed by Waterco in 1990 where the corner location remains as a pool shop to this day.

Unable to settle into retirement, Smith continued to work as an independent pool serviceman – looking after his many Manukau customers almost to the end of his life.

His contribution to New Zealand swimming pool industry trade associations was invaluable, and he was on many committees over the years and many of the old school pool builders in Auckland worked for, or were trained by, Smith and Menzies.

SPLASH! passes on condolences to his family and friends.

Industry moves

Emma McKeon joins Swim Australia Swimming sensation Emma McKeon is quickly becoming one of Australia’s most dynamic sprint queens in the pool.

Now the humble Brisbanite is training to be a swim business role model as well.

Teaming a gruelling 24-hour weekly regime of swimming and strength training, the 20-year-old has just embarked on a part-time position with learn-to-swim experts, Swim Australia.

“We are so excited to have Emma join our team,” says CEO, Ross Gage. “Emma’s experience

in the pool will be a wonderful asset to our already stellar staff. Emma will be helping us with our daily business dealings, and will be contributing to one of our special interest groups, SwimDisability.”

Emma is the daughter tf swimming legends Ron McKeon and Susie (Woodhouse), owners of McKeon’s Swim School in Wollongong.

“Swimming has been such a massive part of my life – I feel so fortunate to be able to extend myself, learn about the business and support the sport I love,” says McKeon.

news

Safety

Cable recall In Brief The Federal AttorneyGeneral is reminding pool retailers to be vigilant to help prevent potentially dangerous chemicals finding their way into the hands of terrorists. The National Code of Practice for Chemicals of Security Concern contains practical information to help business assess and reduce their chemical security risks.

Of the 40,000 chemicals approved for use in Australia, authorities have identified 96 chemicals that are of security concern. The code focuses on 11 of the highest risk chemicals that can be used to make explosives. The code is for importers, distributors, transporters, universities, farmers, hardware stores, pool chemical suppliers, hairdressers and any other industry sector that manufacturers, handles or uses any of these chemicals. For more information, including a copy of the National Code of Practice for Chemicals of Security Concern visit www.chemicalsecurity. gov.au Formwork block manufacturer SolidPool has appointed a new export manager, Victor Gil-Valcarcel. They will be attending Piscine Global in November, and both Piscine SPLASH! Asia in Singapore and the Landscaping Paysalia Exhibition in Lyon in 2015. Last season the company launched a compact filtration unit to extend its range.

24

SPLASH!

October-November 2014

Infinity cables have been recalled by 18 electrical retailers and wholesalers after they failed electrical safety standards due to poor quality plastic insulation coating. All sizes and configurations of white thermoplastic sheathed (TPS) and orange round Infinity mains power cables are affected.

Olsent power cables sourced from Infinity Cable Co Pty Ltd and solely supplied by Masters Home Improvement are also affected. A 19th smaller wholesaler has completed a recall of the product.

Infinity cables were supplied in all states and territories, except the Northern Territory. It is estimated that around 40,000 households and businesses may have been affected. The relevant periods of cable supply are: 2010-2013 (in NSW), 2011-2013 (in ACT), 2012-2013 (in Vic, Qld, SA & WA) and in 2013 (in Tas).

ACCC chairman Rod Sims says that a taskforce of consumer agencies, building regulators and electrical safety regulators are co-ordinating the safety recall.

“Testing has found that the cables will degrade prematurely and if the cables are disturbed, the insulation could break and expose live conductors, resulting in possible electric shock or fires,” he says.

ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard says that consumers should not attempt to inspect cables themselves.

“The Taskforce found there is no immediate danger but careful steps should be taken by a licensed electrical contractor to avoid electric shock or fires from occurring in coming years.

Homeowners and tradespeople are urged to turn off all the main power switches at the switchboard before heading up into the ceiling space at all times.

“We also urge electricians and builders to alert their consumers and their cable supplier if they have installed Infinity cables,” she says.

Contact: www.recalls.gov.au or go to splashmagazine.com.au for a QuickLink

Distribution

Poolranger and Waterco take on Mineral-Chlor The Mineral-Chlor chlorinator manufactured by AIS is now being distributed by both Poolranger and Waterco.

Poolranger managing director Michael Griffin says the deal is a great fit and Poolranger and Waterco will together provide Mineral-Chlor with great market coverage.

“Mineral pools are the new trend in the industry,” he says. “There is a high level of demand for an alternative to traditional salt water chlorination. Customers are looking for chlorinators that run on lower total dissolved solids (TDS) and Mineral-Chlor runs on magnesium chloride, calcium chloride, cyanuric acid in fact anything that raises TDS. It also runs on an extremely low TDS of 2500 for a 50,000 litre pool.”

He says the other benefits of Mineral-Chlor include saving approximately 25 per cent in electrical consumption when compared to similar systems, along with decreased wear and tear on pool filters, pumps and the pool surround as a whole due to increases in operational efficiency and decreased use of chlorine and other chemicals.

“There are therapeutic benefits to swimming in a mineral pool as well,” he says.

Waterco group marketing director Bryan Goh says he is excited to distribute a ground breaking product such as a Mineral-Chlor.

“We were impressed at its ability to generate chlorine with a TDS of just 2500,” he says.

Contact: poolranger@bigpond.com; administration@waterco.com

Poolranger MD Michael Griffin with Waterco group marketing director Bryan Goh

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news

Safety

Slight improvement on pool drownings but more to be done Royal Life Saving has released its National Drowning Report 2014.

Again, swimming pools feature prominently as do children under five years old, although there has been some slight progress in both groups.

The target is to reduce 0-4 year old drowning deaths to no more than 17 per year by 2020, and this year’s result of 20 shows some progress.

In all, there were 39 drowning deaths in swimming pools in 2013/14.

This figure is a reduction of four drowning deaths (or nine per cent) on the 10 year average of 43 drowning deaths (see Graph 1). Males accounted for 72 per cent of all drowning deaths in swimming pools in the 2013/14 financial year.

Children aged under five continue to be the age group that accounts for the largest number of drowning deaths in swimming pools in Australia, with 14 drowning deaths in 2013/14 or 36 per cent of all drowning deaths in swimming pools. The 14 drowning deaths in the 0-4 years age group represents an 18 per cent reduction on the 10 year average of 17 drowning deaths (See Graph 2).

The largest increase in drowning deaths in swimming pools was recorded in the 35-44 years age group with the five drowning deaths seen in this age group representing an increase of 150 per cent against the 10 year average of two drowning deaths (See Graph 2).

Falls into water accounted for almost half (49 per cent) of all drowning deaths in swimming pools in 2013/14. Swimming and recreating was the next leading activity prior to drowning in swimming pools, accounting for 41 per cent of swimming pool drownings in 2013/14.

Reductions against the 10 year average for swimming pool drowning deaths were recorded in New South Wales and Queensland, with reduction of 38 per cent and 23 per cent respectively. The Northern Territory and Western Australia both recorded increases in 2013/14 against the 10 year average for their State or Territory. Swimming pool drowning deaths increased by 200 per cent in the Northern Territory and by 33 per cent in Western Australia (See Graph 3).

Children under five continue to account for a large proportion of drowning deaths in swimming pools, particularly home swimming pools.

Royal Life Saving says in its report that it is important to ensure that home pools are fenced with a correctly installed compliant pool fence with a self-closing and self-latching gate. Never prop the gate open or leave objects that could be climbed on near the fence. Regularly check your pool fence, gate and surrounds as the strength and integrity of the structure can weaken over time and exposure to the elements.

Contact: go to splashmagazine.com.au to download the full report

Graph 2: Swimming Pool drowning deaths by age group for 2013/2014. The 0-4 age group accounts for 36 per cent of all drownings in swimming pools

Graph 3: Swimming Pool drowning deaths by state. Reductions were recorded against the 10 year average in NSW and Qld

2014 Snapshot of findings Overall • 266 people drowned in Australia between 1 July 2013 and 30 June 2014 • This is a reduction of 29 drowning deaths (or 10 per cent) on the adjusted total of 295 drowning deaths in 2012/13 • This is a reduction of 26 drowning deaths (or nine per cent) on the 10 year average of 292 drowning deaths

Sex and age • 81 per cent of all drowning deaths were male (215 drowning deaths) • 19 per cent of all drowning deaths were female (51 drowning deaths)

Graph 1: Swimming Pool drowning deaths per year compared with the 10 year average. They are down slightly this year

• 87 (33 per cent) drowning deaths occurred in people aged 55 years and over

State and Territory • 90 (34 per cent) drowning deaths ocurred in New South Wales • 60 (23 per cent) drowning deaths occurred in Queensland • 47 (18 per cent) drowning deaths occurred in Victoria

Location and activity • 105 (39 per cent) drowning deaths occurred in inland waterway locations • 39 (15 per cent) drowning deaths occurred in swimming pools • 34 (13 per cent) drowning deaths occurred at beaches

• 20 (eight per cent) drowning deaths occurred in children aged 0-4 years

• 65 people (24 per cent) were swimming and recreating immediately prior to drowning

• 10 (four per cent) drowning deaths occurred in children aged 5-14 years

• 56 people (21 per cent) drowned as a result of falls into water

• 40 (15 per cent) drowning deaths occurred in young people aged 15 to 24 years

• 43 people (16 per cent) were using watercraft immediately prior to drowning

October-November 2014 SPLASH! 27

feature

The man at the helm of SPASA Australia

T

the group that formed he SPASA SPRAA, but at the Australia board time we really needed has appointed a nationally registered former Clark body that could go to the Rubber chief Gary Nye Federal Government and as its CEO. SPLASH! represent the aftermarket. spoke with him shortly That was the only way after he’d taken on the we could get the industry new role. accepted and have the When asked his goals occupation recognised,” in the new position, he he says. says the first is to work “Our aim was to with the industry to grow address the skills shortage the market.

Gary Nye SPASA and develop a pathway “It’s been stationery for Australia CEO to a career. This was five the past eight years or so, years ago, and SPASA and it would be good to Australia was unable to assist. But when get it back to where it was in the early we set SPRAA up, the constitution 2000s,” he says. “Since the drought and contemplated the possibility of merging the GFC it hasn’t been as buoyant as we with another association further down would like. the track.”

“The whole industry would benefit. The After the Occupation was formally builders would be constructing new pools, recognised, SPRAA worked with the suppliers and manufacturers would CPSISC to get the Cert III and IV be selling more pumps and filters, and developed, and then with the NSW, the aftermarket would be happy because Tasmanian, Queensland and SA State there’d be more pools to look after.” governments to develop traineeships, with He says that leveraging the consumer Victoria and WA still a work in progress. shows will play a big part in helping “What we set out to do at SPRAA, achieve this, but that there is also a lot we basically have achieved now. During of discussion in the market about health this time we kept good relations with all and fitness, and also technology. the associations.”

“We’ve got an ageing population, so He says he hopes to see SPASA health is becoming a big consideration Australia become the pre-eminent and there must be an opportunity there,” industry association that represents all he says. “There’s also some been some sectors of the industry. new technology released over the past couple of years, and there will be some opportunities as people want to upgrade Final advice to these new technologies.

“If I was to give advice to someone “I think we can have a more proactive coming into the industry it public relations approach directed at the would be to understand that it’s a consumer, promoting these technologies seasonal business. and also the health benefits of owning a “You have to make hay when the sun pool; and as the industry moves forward it shines. That’s when you’ve really got to would be great to also get some marketing put in an effort – in the summer. You developed as well as the PR.” might work 12 to 14 hours a day. But you should put a little money aside to carry you though the winter months.

Towards a united future “I suggest you open a separate bank When asked how he saw SPASA account, just for pushing on in the Australia developing in the future, Nye winter. It’s easy to spend money when stressed he had been in the job for only a you’ve got it, so a separate account can week and a half, and that these opinions help you put it aside. were his, rather than the official SPASA “And it’s good for the whole industry Australia view. if people have that money to pay “I’ve had the view for some time that suppliers and other bills throughout the the industry only needs one association whole year.” ■ representing it. I know I was part of 28

SPLASH!

October-November 2014

Business background Before coming to the industry Nye had a fairly long career with the Coles Myer organisation including many senior positions, culminating with him taking the role as managing director of Target Australia.

In 2001 he went into his own business which included retail and hospitality, running the Lilydale Herb Farm in the Yarra Valley.

“We sold every type of herb you could think of, and a lot you’d never heard of, and also had a gift shop and a restaurant. We sold that business in 2007 and took a year off to go travelling around Australia. We went up to the Northern Territory and the Kimberley and then came down the WA coast and back around to Melbourne. We had planned to keep going but when we got to Melbourne and my wife had the grandkids back in her arms she wanted to stay.

“I thought, well if I’m going to stay at home I’d better get a job. That’s when I started with Clark Rubber, in March 2008 and was chief operating officer there for the past four years.”

During his time at Clark Rubber he put an emphasis on growing their market share in the pool category, which they saw as a growth opportunity. He developed and executed a five-year plan which has just commenced its fourth year.

“I was very happy where we were heading in the end. Clark Rubber is a franchise business and once we could show the franchisees the opportunities, they started to get on board. I was very comfortable with the progress we made while I was there.”

He says that one of the things he has really enjoyed in the pool and spa industry is the people working in it.

“I’ve developed some really good relationships and it’s been very enjoyable – that’s not to say it hasn’t had its challenges. But the industry has pretty good people generally speaking.

“Also the changes in technology I mentioned before are bringing a lot of opportunities for future growth, and that does excite me.”

He says that it is a very complex industry requiring an understanding of both chemistry and hydraulics as well as business principles.

“But there hadn’t been much training before, and a lot of people have taught themselves and learnt by making mistakes. So there is a big opportunity to professionalise the industry – not just from the technical side but also a business management side.

“One thing I know about running small businesses is it’s not easy. A lot of people have trouble understanding the difference between profit and cash for example – and I’d like to be able to help people with these attributes as well.”

feature

The role of industry associations

By Cal Stanley

T

he swimming pool and spa industry is well represented in the major states by active and vibrant state associations. I am sure the members of those associations are well aware of the services provided and the benefits to be gained.

So this message is primarily to those non-members who receive this publication. With most of my articles I write primarily from the perspective of a pool builder, but I address this article to all those nonSPASA members in all sectors of this great industry.

Our history

Pool associations began in the late 1960s and by the second half of the 1970s there was one in every state. At about that time the states decided they needed to share information and have a national presence.

The Council of Australian Swimming Pool Associations (CASPA) was formed with two delegates from each state meeting twice a year.

By the late 1980s it was getting too much to operate on a shoestring with volunteers, so the first Swimming Pool & Spa Association of Australia Ltd was formed in 1988. A fulltime manager was appointed.

All state members became members of this national body, and it collected all membership fees from which the operating costs of the state offices were paid. States were permitted to raise and spend special purpose monies within their own states.

By 1996 the national manager had changed. Not having responsibility for all operating costs meant that the considerable losses on a national convention held in Hawaii coupled with uncontrolled office equipment leasing in the three eastern states finally led to SPASA Australia Ltd (Version 1) being put into liquidation.

It took another 10 years for the concept to be resurrected with an annual meeting of state managers developing into a new CASPAlike unofficial body. By early 2011 that had morphed into the

Both the fencing and hydraulic standards we have today would be far more draconian without our industry influence.

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Swimming Pool & Spa Association of Australia Ltd (Version 2) which was initially set up to be a body to react to national issues as they arose.

The early history of this organisation has not been notable, all for the wrong reasons, but as the teething problems are overcome, the future is looking bright.

Why you should be a member

I joined the industry in November 1980. By mid-December I was in discussion with the executive of the WA association and by the end of January 1981 my business was a member.

So why did I join up and begin paying annual fees (that at times I am sure we all have thought were far too high)? Many will have asked the question: “Am I getting value for my money?”

I honestly never asked that myself, as I very quickly became so involved (I was on the board within six months) that I knew the answer would always be YES! In his inaugural address to the nation in 1961 John F Kennedy coined the well-known saying: “Ask not what your country can do for you, rather ask what you can do for your country.” I urge you to adopt a similar approach and ask not what benefit you can gain from association membership, but rather, “how can I contribute” and “how can I give something back to improve this industry that is giving me a good living?”

Do that and the normal benefits of membership will be quickly evident.

Not everyone will want to get involved to the extent of becoming a board member as I did, and it’s probably just as well – too many chiefs and not enough Indians sort of thing. But I do sincerely thank that sizable core of members in each state who have found the time and commitment that is required to make our associations a success.

Life without our industry associations

Without our associations we would have no meetings where we can mix with fellow members and exchange information and ideas. We would lose the promotional benefits of our annual awards. We would have fewer trade shows and promotional magazines, no standard contracts, no industry training and so many other things I don’t have room to mention.

Most importantly however, we would have no effective avenue to influence state and federal government departments who could and would run roughshod over us in so many ways. None of these people will listen to the woes of a single business. Today no federal department or organisation will even talk to an individual state association let alone to you or your business.

As it is, we fight a continual battle against the various bureaucracies for the betterment of the entire industry and ultimately for the betterment of your business, Mr/Ms non-member.

People in government and quasi-government organisations see it as their duty to screw us and our customers at every opportunity. You never see an Act or Regulation repealed or relaxed – they are just added to. All we can do is try to stem the flow.

For example, having had a 25-year involvement on Standards Australia committees I often felt we were fighting a losing battle. In some respect we were, as all the social engineers on the committee outnumber the industry representatives and they can’t pass up the opportunity to screw us further every time they get the chance.

Both the fencing and hydraulic standards we have today would be far more draconian without our industry influence.

Non-members

Every business in this industry benefits daily from the efforts and accomplishments of the industry associations.

If you are not currently a member in your state I urge you to get on board, play your part and contribute in any way you can. It won’t take long for you to wonder why you didn’t do it years ago. n 32

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Correction to my earlier EPB story Early this year I wrote an article on equipotential bonding (EPB). This was done after extensive consultation with the local management of the National Electrical and Communications Association (NECA) who agreed with my assessment at that time.

Recently, SPASA WA was addressed by the local manager of Masters Electricians, the other national association. We were advised that EPB was not required for pools without conductive materials (fences etc) within 1.25 m of the pool, because concrete was not a conductive material. Yet all my research indicates it is quite conductive when in the ground and especially when the pool lining is not completely waterproofed.

It is a sorry state when neither the office of the Energy Regulator nor the energy provider in WA will give a ruling on this, and we are left with the electrical associations who have confusing interpretations.

It is made even more difficult as there is no definition of “conductive”. Every substance on earth is conductive to some degree. Some, such as plastics, conduct negligible amount while metals generally conduct sufficient electricity to be dangerous. Conductivity is measured in ohms of resistance. It would have been helpful if AS3000 identified a cut-off level of ohms below which materials are not considered conductive.

AS3000 is poorly worded in Clause 5.6.2.6 and confusing, but having studied it in more detail I now believe that every concrete shell should be EPBed, with other items only linked in when water is in contact with an item of pool equipment that is conductive (metal).

I apologise for any confusion I may have caused in this area, and since even the main electrical contractor associations can’t agree on it I will stay well away from it in future.

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Timber decking complements this Abgal-lined Classic pool

Reaching for

Higher ground

By Kim Kamarudin

G

one are the days of unsightly, rusted aboveground pools.

In their place are modern, sleek and efficient models that range from DIY installations to complete landscaping and decking projects ideal for the great Aussie outdoor entertaining experience.

Australia is considered one of the larger pool suppliers in the world and some well-known Australian manufacturers and suppliers like Classic Pools, Sterns Pools, Abgal and Cooke Industries distribute aboveground pools and/or products around the world.

In our own backyard, the number of people choosing aboveground or modular pools is estimated at about 15 per cent.

Classic Pools managing director Michael Chapman thinks most people would still like to have a concrete or fibreglass pool.

“Factors affecting an owner’s decision about having an aboveground pool include what is financially accessible and if the site lends itself to the benefit of having a below ground pool or not,” he says.

“This is where we gain our market share. Unfortunately, the market compared to 10 years ago has shrunk. In the old days, kids would be pushing mum and dad to buy a pool for them to play in. These days with smaller back yards and children wanting to play on their electronic devices, the demand for family swimming pools is not as strong as it used to be. I believe this trend will continue.”

34 SPLASH! October-November 2014

Abgal managing director Garry Long believes the market is driven by demand and affordability, saying aboveground pools are quick to install so owners can use the product sooner than an in-ground pool.

“When the weather heats up people have a ‘need-it-now’ mentality and they want their pool straight away,” he says.

“Aboveground pools are an answer to the consumer response to weather changes, as well as being a more affordable and practical option for most Australian families.”

Sterns Pools general manager Joel Stern’s view is that as the market gets tighter and blocks get smaller, more and more people consider an aboveground pool a viable alternative.

“Instead of spending $30,000 on a concrete below ground pool, homeowners can have a modular DIY pool from $3000 to a package that includes decking and landscaping in their backyard for $20,000,” he says.

“In recent years with backyards getting smaller, we have noticed narrower pools like the three- or five-metre pools becoming increasingly popular. When I first started in the industry 15 years ago, the three-metre wide pool was only talked about as a concept. Now they are stock standard.

“Our modular pool kit starts at $3000 retail without installation or extras. Realistically, for about $5000 clients can purchase their pool, pump, filter and everything they need.”

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The trio of Abgal, Sterns Pools and Classic Pools are each family owned and operated Australian businesses, and have a wealth of experience in their respective segments of the aboveground pool market.

Established in 1976, Abgal supplies standard and custom-sized liners for aboveground pools. The group also produces covers for aboveground pools including a bubble-style floating cover, a mesh-style leaf cover and storage rollers. Abgal products are available through pool shops, franchise groups and various original equipment manufacturers (OEM).

The Stern family has been in the industry for more than 50 years, initially with Sterns Manufacturing (which Joel’s father bought from his father) and later as Sterns Pools. Sterns specialises in the manufacture and sale of modular pools and sells to clients in Australia, India, Vietnam, China and South America.

Classic Pools managing director Michael Chapman has 43 years of industry experience and for the past 12 years has run his business with his sons Ben and Josh. Classic Pools sell a wide range of aboveground pools suitable for above or in-ground installation.

With more than 130 years of experience between them Sterns Pools, Classic Pools and Abgal have seen the industry grow and change and grow some more both in Australia and overseas.

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October-November 2014 SPLASH!

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Export markets

“These days, overseas clients find Abgal products via OEMs,” says Long. “Dealing with an Australian aboveground pool manufacturer and being supplied an Abgal product.

“A lot of people use the internet to research products and Australia is considered one of the larger suppliers or pool markets in the world. Therefore, people look to Australia if they are in the region or looking for something that might be different to what their competitors are supplying.”

For the benefit of overseas customers, Sterns refer to their pools as modular rather than aboveground.

“Australia is still our main market,” says Stern. “Of the 1000 pools we sell each year, about 10-15 per cent are overseas sales and 85 per cent are local.”

Classic Pools boasts retail centres in every state and also has “quite a large overseas market,” says Chapman.

“Our sales overseas are replacing the numbers of pool we are selling here in Australia. We export to India which is probably our biggest market and have a good percentage of the market in New Zealand. We are also expanding into Malaysia and we have contacts in half a dozen other countries where we attend trade shows and are getting our foot in the door,” he says.

“The internet is how people find Classic Pool products overseas. One of my sons manages our online presence so when searching for aboveground pools, our company appears at the top of the list right around the world.

“India is a growing market. It is a difficult market because of the way business is conducted via architects rather than our agents selling to the end user. The customer in India may see our product at a retail show and get excited about it, but then we also need to sell the product to the architect to be able to complete the deal. So we really have a couple of people to sell to rather than simply the end user,” he says “By comparison, Malaysian dealers deal directly with the end user and there are no other influences in those sales. It is a new market and we have two display centres through our dealers that showcase working models of our products.”

Strong as steel

Aboveground pools have been considered the cheaper backyard pool option since their creation in the early 1900s. However the quality, materials and technology involved in today’s pools are far from those of even a decade ago. In the past, the “cheap” tag attracted a certain market but according to Stern, when people realise what a completed Sterns Pool looks like they are surprised.

“At home shows people often say they aren’t interested in an aboveground pool until we show them what the modular pool looks like when completed.

Then they are impressed. With some of our completed modular pools people cannot tell they are aboveground pools,” he says.

“We purchase Australian steel and fabricate it to produce the specific components needed to make up a modular pool.”

Stern compares the company’s technology with that of US counterpart Wilbar International, describing the group as the “market leader in modular pools”. Stern recently visited the US factory as part of discussions about bringing a Wilbar pool design to Australia.

36 SPLASH! October-November 2014

Boxing clever This Queensland pool is certainly above ground – a really long way above ground.

Classic installed the pool on a raised platform so that when the pool was completed, the top was flush with the first floor deck. Then, by boxing the exterior of the swimming pool, the structure is hidden, providing a result similar to an in-ground pool – but four metres above the ground.

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“It takes me only 60 seconds to do 9 different tests.”

This Classic display pool in Teardrop shape installed in-ground with a 2m deep end looks like it could be a concrete or fibreglass pool

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WaterLink Spin uses LaMotte’s famous DataMate water testing software which is cloud-based so you can monitor water testing at remote locations from a central office.

For more information email Vendart Pty Ltd on sales@vendart. com.au or call our technical sales desk on (02) 9450-0466.

Distributed exclusively by Vendart Pty Ltd P 02 9450 0466 F 02 9450 0755 www.vendart.com.au October-November 2014 SPLASH!

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“The manufacturing process of Wilbar pools is similar, and we manufacture a lot of the same components. The plan is to use some of the American technology but to make the pool here in Australia for the local market,” says Stern.

“In terms of the modular pool technology, Sterns is comparable to what Wilbar are producing. We have a range of pools the company is interested in that are structurally stronger, allowing us to create more shapes.

For example, we manufacture rectangular and keyholeshaped pools, which they have not been able to do with their pools.

“We are looking at bringing in some of their technology here and giving them some of ours as well as our structural system so they may be able to offer it to the US market. This is very exciting for Sterns Pools.”

This Classic Pool is elevated to overcome the steeply sloping site. The pool is a 9m x 4.5m oval stainless steel saltwater pool in a braceless design to minimise pool fencing

High tech precision

The manufacturing process for liners has graduated from hand-cutting to robotic cutting, and welding techniques have also progressed. In 1985, Abgal pioneered a new technique called Smart Seam that results in a stronger and flatter seam which also eliminates excess material on the edge of liners that could attract algae growth.

Abgal was the first liner manufacturer in Australia to stop cutting liners by hand. In December 1990 the company introduced robotic machines for cutting fabric to increase efficiency, accuracy and productivity.

“We have three machines,” says Long. “Two of which have conveyors that automatically feed the fabric onto the table, cut it to shape and cut the panels off the back.

“Abgal is a world leader in the style, design and formulation of material we use for our liners as well as the capability of adding benches, steps and deep ends for aboveground swimming pools,” he says.

“The material we use to produce liners is also constantly evolving. We look at new and improved additives and pigments for the PVC, and have the PVC formulated specifically for Australian conditions.

It is performance-based so it is all about quality: how it performs in the harsh Australian sun and against chlorine levels in the swimming pools,” he says.

“We employ a chemist with more than 30 years’ experience in the manufacture of PVC, whose role it is to look at continuous improvement of our products as well as overseeing quality control of all of the PVC we purchase.”

Salt safe

Aboveground pools built partially in-ground can successfully combat a sloping site

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October-November 2014

In the past, a problem with aboveground pools was that the framework was made from metal components that were subject to rust issues if maintenance was not taken care of.

Chapman views this problem from the perspective that the more metal components that could be removed, the longer the life of the product.

Classic Pools introduced resin and saltwater pools to the Australian market 15 years ago. More recently, the company introduced a stainless steel wall as a longer lasting component option for their range.

“I travelled to trade shows with views about what could be done with the traditional aboveground pool,” he says. “With overseas knowledge and product manufactured in Japan, we were able to design a resin pool that outlasts metal component pools.

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“With some of our completed modular pools people cannot tell they are aboveground pools.”

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“We introduced the saltwater pool at the same time as the resin pools. We were reluctant to introduce a saltwater pool with the metal components so they were introduced side by side,” he says.

“The stainless steel version is also manufactured in Japan. We are the only company offering that option in Australia. Others may try to imitate this technology but they will have difficulty being competitive in supplying a similar product.”

In-floor cleaning for aboveground pools The Bahama Braceless pool design minimises excavation and creates a streamlined look when installed aboveground

This Classic pool has a child-resistant barrier at the steps to prohibit unaccompanied child access to the water

According to Stern, technological improvements in the manufacturing process of modular pools means any new technology that can be used in a concrete pool can also be used on a modular pool.

“Technology like multi-speed pumps and robotic cleaners are becoming more prevalent in our type of pools,” he says. “This is something that would not have occurred in the past.”

Cooke Industries national sales manager Brad Deacon agrees that innovative construction and design processes have increased the profile of aboveground pools resulting in more being installed across Australia.

Cooke Industries is a well-known supplier of swimming pool equipment.

“Manufacturing improvements mean aboveground pools now boast all the features and benefits of their concrete and fibreglass counterparts,” says Deacon.

“One such feature is in-floor cleaning. We design affordable systems for aboveground pools which provide the equivalent cleaning and efficiency benefits of high-end concrete pools.

“There are significant energy savings available through the use of energy efficient pumps like the Enviraflo circulation and QuikClean in-floor cleaning systems. An Enviraflo circulation system also provides improved chemical efficiency.”

www.maytronics.com.au 1300 MYDOLPHIN 40 SPLASH! October-November 2014

The result of the extra excavation is a modular pool that will look similar to an in-ground pool

Sterns modular pool kits are designed for the DIY person to install over a weekend or for a licensed installer to install in a day, once excavation is complete

This Sterns pools is being installed partially in-ground

“An aboveground pool with a deep end may take us two days but generally we install a pool every day.�

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Install tips

When it comes to installation, Sterns Pools rule of thumb is one pool fits on one pallet.

Also, it all fits into cartons that two people can move around. This means if someone can walk down the side of the house, then the pool parts will fit through too.

Sterns modular pool kits are designed for the home handyperson to install over a weekend using a screwdriver and a spirit level. The most critical and often hardest part of putting the pool up is ensuring the site is level to within an inch.

For a licensed professional installer like Brisbane-based Steve Carter, site inspection is key.

Carter specialises in aboveground pool installations with equipment ranging in size from a small one-man Dingo to a five-tonne excavator.

Before an installation, he inspects the site to check the access and slope to avoid any problems on installation day.

“I usually send an excavator in a few days before install,” Carter says.

“This means if the machine hits rock or hard soil we still have a couple of days grace to sort it out.

“In a year we will install about 220 pools and the pools themselves are very easy to install. Once site scraping or excavation has been done we can normally build a flat-floor pool in one day. An aboveground pool with a deep end may take us two days but generally we install a pool every day.

“The jobs we are called in to fix are from poor installations by either the home owner or poor quality pool builders. There are quite a few around that are not licensed especially at this time of year when it is getting busy. They get in on the scene, do a cheaper job and then come winter next year we are called in to repair things.”

By comparison, installation in India is very different says Chapman.

“For site works in India we always quote $100 for excavation regardless of whether the area is tight or not,” he says.

“If we can get a machine in, it will cost us $100 and if we can’t get a machine in then a team of people digging by hand for the day still costs $100. Something similar in Australia would cost $6000 for site works.

“Another big difference is that getting rid of excavated soil is very easy in India compared to the fees here. In a built-up area in Australia, there may be a need to travel 20km to 30km to dump soil at a dumping station that may charge $100-$200 per tonne for material, whereas in India, soil can be disposed of around the corner.”

While the aboveground or modular pool market in Australia is moving at a steady pace, overseas markets with enormous potential for growth are looking to local companies like Abgal, Classic Pools and Sterns Pool who are amongst industry leaders in this market niche.

The aboveground pool continues to be a cheaper priced alternative that, with advances in technology, offers versatility and creativity for home owners worldwide. n

The Bahama Keyhole pool is an extension of Sterns Pools Bahama Braceless range.

The keyhole shape enables an excavated deep end to approximately 1.8m

Contacts Abgal: www.abgal.com.au Classic Pools: classicpools.com.au Cooke Industries: www.cookeindustries.com.au Sterns Pool: www.sternsplayland.com.au Steve Carter: www.abovegroundpoolsoz.com.au

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SPLASH!

October-November 2014

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A slice of ocean Above: The mirage effect Opposite Top: Living under the pool is thermally efficient, especially in the hot Greek summer Opposite Right: The almost mythical expanse of sea and pool

T

his amazing swimming pool is like a slither of ocean elevated to a rocky clifftop, creating an almost mythical visage, under which the residents live.

The pool is on Tinos, one the Cyclades in the Greek Archipelago, known as the Island of Madonna. It is the major focus of religious pilgrimage in Greece, specifically to relics of the Panagia Evangelistria and the thousand churches that can be found on its slopes and hilltops.

The residence is situated on a steep sloped rocky plot facing south, overlooking the Aegean Sea. It is a singlelevel structure with a surface of 198 square metres.

Kois Associated Architects had the goal of integrating the building seamlessly into the landscape.

To achieve this, the living space was covered by an infinity edge, rimless pool that produces the visual effect of the water extending to the horizon, vanishing and merging with the seascape. From a distance, especially if viewed from the path of approach on higher ground, the only visible feature of the house is the sea-like surface of the pool.

The water during the day reflects the surroundings; and during the night, the star filled sky. The mirroring pool of water carefully positioned on the landscape evokes memories of the optical phenomenon of the mirage from which the project was named.

Most of the visible construction materials were extracted from the vicinity and were used to help the house “disappear” into the scenery. Local techniques were also borrowed such as the characteristic dry wall construction prevalent on the island. This technique was implemented with minor modifications.

The local materials have a low impact on the environment and they are very efficient as insulating materials. The rear walls are made of retained earth and have layers of vegetation that regulate the temperature and cool the environment through evaporation. The pool acting as roof provides thermal insulation and protection from solar radiation and heat transference.

The architects wanted to make a house fused with its surroundings, an invisible oasis hidden from the unsuspected eyes, clinging to the rocks and overseeing the dramatic cascading landscape. n

46 SPLASH! October-November 2014

The Mirage Project Location: Tinos Island, Greece Principle Architects: Stelios Kois of Kois Associated Architects Project Leader: Nikos Patsiaouras Design Team: Filipos Manolas, Gaby Barbas, Giannakis Konstantinos, Antriana Voutsina Contacts: www.koisarchitecture.com

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Kois Associated Architects

October-November 2014 SPLASH! 47

Awards of Excellence The 2014 Awards of Excellence Gala Dinner is the industry event of the year for SPASA Victoria.

2014 Remco Pool of the Year winner, Aloha Pools

This Gala Event is also supported by our category sponsors:

Held on the 30th August at Regent Theatre’s Plaza Ballroom, 350 industry participants enjoyed sumptuous food and wonderful entertainment.

Olympian & SPASA Ambassador, Nicole Livingstone, continues to MC the industry night-of-nights. The Awards of Excellence were hotly contested - it proved to be a simply amazing array of pools, spas, stores and products.

Support from our greatly-appreciated sponsors enables SPASA Victoria to continue its work promoting the industry and pool and spa use in the state.

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For full details & images, go to: www.spasavic.com.au/awards-of-excellence SPASA wishes to express our gratitude to the following leading industry players Major Sponsors

Event Media Partner

Well done to all 2014 Awards of Excellence entrants and winners.

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Awards of Excellence

Awards of Excellence HIGHLY COMMENDED

GOLD AWARD Best Residential Fibreglass Pool - Under $40,000 Gordon Avenue Pools & Spas

Best Commercial Pool - Over $250,000 Commercial Aquatics Australia 2013 Sustainability winner TPEC

For more Gold Award winners see www.spasavic.com.au

Awards of Excellence Best Safety Barrier - Frameless Impressions

The 2014 Product of the Year Award Sunbather’s DownUnder Cover

Best Control, Water Quality or Convenience Product - Waterco Limited

Best Residential Pre-engineered, Vinyl-Lined In-Ground Pool - Albatross Pools

Gold Winners of the SPASA Awards of Excellence 2014 2014 Remco POOL OF THE YEAR

Best Residential Fibreglass Pool - over $60,000

Best Residential Concrete Pool and Spa Combination

The 2014 Product of the Year Award

Compass Pools Vic

Personal Pools

Sunbather DownUnder Cover

Best Residential Courtyard Pool

Best Residential Fibreglass, Acrylic or Vinyl-Lined Pool & Spa Combination

Aloha Pools

Best Safety Barrier

Frameless Impressions Best in situ Paving or Stone Product

SAI Sandstone

SPASA Life Member Award

Aloha Pools

Lindsay Hartshorne

Best Commercial Pool - under $250,000

Compass Pools Vic

Sustainability Award

Compass Pools Vic

Best Pool and Landscape Combination

Sunbather DownUnder Cover

Best Commercial Pool - over $250,000

Seaspray Pools

Best Residential Concrete Pool under $100,000

The SPASA Water Neutral Pool Award

Commercial Aquatics Australia

Best Renovation

Seaspray Pools

Rainwise Coburg

Best Residential Concrete Spa

Best Control, Water Quality or Convenience Product

Best In Situ Portable Spa

Waterco Limited- (Hydroxy Pure) and Protector Aluminium (G8 Safe) Best Retail Outlet

Aloha Pools Endless Spas Best Residential Fibreglass, Acrylic, or Vinyl-Lined Spa

Poolside Albury

Compass Pools Vic

Best Spa Retailer

Endless Spas

Best Residential Pre-engineered, VinylLined In-Ground Pool

Best Residential Concrete Pool under $50,000

Best Residential Concrete Lap Pool

Albatross Pools

McNamara Pools Courts & Landscapes

Aloha Pools Industry Achiever of the Year

Best Fibreglass, Acrylic or Vinyl-lined Pool by a Country Member

Greg Fell from Aloha Pools

Tassie Pools & Spas

SPASA Industry Training High Achiever Award

Best Residential Concrete Pool by a Country Member

Scott Moore from Poolstore Bayside

Countrywide Pools & Spas Best Residential Indoor Pool

Aloha Pools

Best Residential Fibreglass Pool - under $40,000

Best Residential Fibreglass. Acrylic or Vinyl-Lined Lap Pool

Commercial Aquatics

Best Residential Fibreglass Pool - $40,000 - 60,000

Narellan Pools Geelong

Best Residential Concrete Pool Over $100,000

Personal Pools

Aloha Pool Compass Pools Vic

Albatross Pools

Best Innovative Pool or Spa

Distinctive Pools Gordon Avenue Pools & Spas

Best Pool Display Centre

Best Water Feature

NZ pools shine in awards

T

he New Zealand Master Pool Builders have announced the winners of their annual pool awards. These are photographic awards, so the appearance of the pool in the photo is crucial to winning an award.

There were many quality entries this year, with some stunning swimming pools picking up coveted Double Gold Medals. The highest score from the judges in each category is awarded a Double Gold; entries that are within 20 per cent of the highest score are awarded a single Gold Medal. Silver and Bronze are also awarded.

The medals will be presented at the 2014 Annual General Meeting on October 4, 2014 Go to splashmagazine.com.au for a QuickLink to the full list of award winners. n

Neil Runciman of Frontier Pools won Double Gold for Best Refurbished Pool.

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Double Gold Medals for 2014 were awarded to: Residential 1 to $50,000: K.Richmond Residential 2 to $100,000: P.Fuller Residential 3 over $100,000: C.Morgan Commercial Pools: P.Fuller Environment Pools: P.Fuller Refurbished Pools: N.Runciman

Carlos Morgan of Morgan Pools won Double Gold in the Residential Over $100,000 category for this pool

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commercial news

Commercial

news Million dollar safety campaign launched. . . 54 Model Aquatic Health Code released . . . . . . . 54 Pirates of the Catcus opens in Turkey . . . . . . 54 Global news . . . . . . . . . 55 Collingwood scores with athletic recovery. . . . . . 56 Tenders. . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Gold Coast Aquatic Centre dress rehearsal for Commonwealth Games. 58 The shining jewel in the Utah desert. . . . . . . . . . 64

State-of-the-art designs for Green Square pool The City of Sydney invited architects and landscape architects to enter a design competition to create a new park and aquatic leisure centre for the Green Square area. The winning design will combine a precinct recreation park with a modern architectural aquatic leisure facility. The five finalists were chosen by the competition jury in June and the winner will be announced later this year.

Safety

Swimming bodies take stand on hypoxic training The Australian Swimming Coaches and Teaches Association (ASCTA) and Swimming Australia Ltd (SAL), have issued a joint statement on hypoxic training after identifying risks associated with the practice.

Hypoxic training is a technique aimed at improving athletic performance by restricting oxygen supply.

ASCTA and SAL have jointly formulated strict guidelines on any such activity. They advise any teachers, coaches and others utilising this performance enhancing skill – primarily in competitive environments – to revise their position and policy immediately.

Their stance is that hypoxic training: • Has NO place in recreational swimming; • Has NO place in learn-to-swim; however, • Has a role to play in the sport, to help the development of competitive swimmers, under controlled conditions, by qualified coaches.

New policy

Swimming Australia has released a new Hypoxic Training Policy with a strict set of guidelines to help minimise risk for competitive swimmers using the performance enhancing skill. The guidelines are part of its ongoing drive to ensure swimmers, parents, coaches and swim clubs are aware of the dangers of hypoxic training and are up to date with best practice.

By actively following the guidelines and procedures, hypoxic training can be performed in appropriately safe conditions. Swimming Australia encourages all athletes to read the policy, available on their website, and raise any concerns about hypoxic training with their swim-coach, parent or swim club.

The key principals of the new policy include: • Hypoxic training should only ever take place within a controlled environment, under the strict supervision of an accredited coach.

• Coaches should advise athletes to never ignore the urge to breathe.

• Hypoxic training should be introduced in-line with the athlete’s physical and skill development, beginning with efforts over 5m, 10m, then 15m etc, as the swimmer develops the appropriate skills and physiological capability.

52 SPLASH! October-November 2014

• Coaches should ensure adequate rest between hypoxic efforts to ensure full recovery.

• Athletes should never hyperventilate (take multiple, deep breaths) prior to underwater or hypoxic efforts.

• Hypoxic training should not involve competitive efforts of maximum duration or distance covered.

Hypoxic training is a commonly used swim training method which aims to improve the body’s tolerance of an “oxygen debt” – or lack of oxygen – by swimming short distances without breathing.

It’s most regularly used in combination with underwater swim training for improving competitive starts and turns.

It is not new. It has existed for at least 30 years and is fairly widely practiced within both Australian and international competitive swimming.

When practiced in line with Swimming Australia’s new Hypoxic Training Policy, the methods can play an important role in the development of competitive swimmers.

Swimming is one of the safest competitive sports available, but as with any physical activity there are risks involved. For this reason, hypoxic training should only ever take place within a controlled environment under the strict supervision of an accredited coach. This is a critical part of minimising the risk of hypoxia or “shallow water blackout” when a swimmer loses consciousness. Hypoxia is caused by oxygen deprivation brought about by extended breath holding and is generally associated with taking repetitive deep breaths, or hyperventilating, just before entering the water.

Competitive swimmers are at higher risk of suffering from hypoxia when doing extended underwater swims. The risk is heightened even further by hyperventilating prior to the effort.

Four simple tips for safer swimming: • Never swim alone.

• Never hyperventilate prior to any swimming activities.

• Never ignore the urge to breathe.

• Never play breath-holding games or challenges.

Contact: www.swimming.org.au

commercial news

Safety

Perth aquatic centre evacuated after chlorine incident The Joondalup Leisure Centre at Craigie in north Perth was evacuated following a chlorine gas leak on Thursday August 21.

Staff members provided care to patrons before ambulance officers arrived at the scene. Eight people including four children were taken to hospital to be treated for chlorine inhalation and were released that afternoon, while up to 30 adults and children were treated onsite by paramedics.

City of Joondalup CEO Garry Hunt responded to questions from SPLASH! about the incident.

“The City has engaged two independent specialist aquatic contractors to investigate the incident at Leisure Centre Craigie and to identify the probable cause and any contributing factors,” he says.

“The aquatic facilities were closed for just two days before they were reopened to Leisure Centre Members and the community on Saturday 23 August.

“The City will engage with the industry peak body, LIWA aquatics, to provide learnings and share findings and outcomes from the incident.”

He says the city’s first priority in emergency situations is the health and safety of patrons and management made the decision to close the entire facility down in the interest of public safety.

“The highly-trained leisure centre staff were able to evacuate the entire centre in a matter of minutes,” he says. “Leisure Centre Craigie is one of the most popular leisure centres in WA and from time to time incidents like this can occur at facilities where chemicals are involved.

The City apologises to anyone who was inconvenienced by this matter, particularly those patrons who experienced discomfort and required medical treatment.”

Channel Nine interviewed paramedic Blaze Rego onsite and he said the patrons were displaying common symptoms of airway irritation.

“Nausea, shortness of breath and some tummy upsets. Our main concern was to get the children out and assessed immediately,” he said.

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In Brief Longstanding leader and veteran of the Australia aquatics and recreation industries, Gary Penfold, has retired . He had been involved in aquatics for 33 years . He moved to Australia from the UK in 1989, at age 36 . He started working as a swim teacher at Willoughby Leisure Centre and soon became manager . In January 1997 he was appointed manager of Warringah Aquatic Centre (WAC) and he stayed there until his retirement in August 2014 . He was president of ARI from 2000 to 2004 and was instrumental in the establishment of the Australian Leisure Facilities Association (ALFA) . While he has retired from employment in the industry, he will remain on both the ALFA Board and ARI Committee .

The controversial $34 million Southern Peninsula Aquatic Centre on the Mornington Peninsula foreshore at Rosebud in Victoria has stalled . In September, councillors voted 5-4 to halt all work amid a rowdy council session . The use of Crown land for the development was also repealed after councillors resolved to call on the State Environment Minister to withdraw his approval for the use of the land . Opponents believe the location of the pool on the foreshore is not complementary to coastal activities, and is redundant in the beachside location .

For More Information, Contact Peter Rabbidge on (02) 4651 2377 or 0407 078 075 www.zelbrite.com

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commercial news

Guidelines

Model Aquatic Health Code launched The US body the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) has released the first edition of the Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC).

This landmark effort is expected to have a positive impact on the aquatics industry both in the US and globally for many years to come.

The MAHC is the first US voluntary guideline based on scientific research and best practice to improve health and safety at aquatic facilities. The code can be used by US state and local governments to create a pool code that will help reduce the risk of outbreaks, drownings and injuries.

Created in a collaborative effort by volunteers from public health, academia and industry, the MAHC is an exciting step forward for the aquatics industry.

Every five or 10 years, US health departments contact stakeholders and experts to ask for input on the town, city, county or state code. A group of people meet for many hours over several months to debate everything from changing depth marking specs, entrapment devices, cyanuric acid levels, circulation rates, water replacement versus reduced backwashing, chemical feeder rates, and whether operators should be trained.

Their predecessors are questioned as the new committee tries to figure out why they chose what they did in the past. The process repeats itself regularly as new health officials call a group together to reassess the code.

This process has now been replaced by a science-based standard that includes all the supporting rationale for the code. It is a public domain (free) guideline everyone can debate, refine and adopt.

Last year there were 300 million trips to pools or other swimming locations in the US. Go to splashmagazine.com.au for a QuickLink to the code and a useful infographic to explain how it works and why it is needed.

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Waterparks

Pirates of the Cactus opens in Turkey Cactus Hotels Group partnered with Polin to create the Pirates of Cactus Waterpark in Bodrum.

Located on 4500 square metres, the waterpark provides a range of aquatic attractions for all ages, featuring nine different slides, a children’s pool, a swimming pool, a wave pool, pool games, aerobics, competitions and terraces for relaxing. All food and beverage is included in the park’s entry fee.

Safety

Million dollar campaign

Federal Minister for Health and Minister for Sport Peter Dutton with Laurie Lawrence at the launch

commercial news

Global news London is the latest city to plan a river pool, joining New York, Copenhagen and Berlin amongst other riverside urban centres . A consortium is proposing the Thames Baths Project, a freshwater lagoon amid the historic waterway .

Studio Octopi, Civic Engineers and Jonathan Cook Landscape Architects won a competition

last year to come up with new river uses . Rather than creating a pool from actual Thames water, it now plans to pump in freshwater, as the city’s planned sewerage upgrade is unlikely to be completed prior to the opening, jeopardising the river’s water quality . (Image by Studio Octopi)

A Scottish man narrowly escaped a custodial term after leaving his young children unaccompanied in a local aquatic centre so he could go to the bookmakers . Faizan Iqbal dumped the pair at Arbroath Leisure Centre for

more than an hour . Concerned staff found one of the children shivering at the poolside and the other crying in a highchair .

He has been ordered to carry out 160 hours of community labour and is also subject to a supervision order .

A new water safety initiative for young children aims to halve the number of drowning deaths in Australian by 2020.

The Federal Minister for Health and Minister for Sport Peter Dutton launched the initiative at an early learning centre on the Gold Coast with the some of the children the program is aimed at.

Developed by water safety campaigner and former Olympic swimming coach Laurie Lawrence, the program is the latest component in the Australian Government’s water safety campaign, which includes programs by AustSwim, Surf Life Saving Australia and the Royal Life Saving Society Australia.

Working closely with Laurie Lawrence, the Government is investing approximately $1 million per year to produce, develop and distribute water safety messages, DVDs and educational material targeting more than 1.5 million Australian children aged up to four years.

Australia Post is supporting the new program meaning more children and families will benefit by receiving the water safety material.

It builds on the highly successful Living with Water DVD, with new songs, videos and books aimed at improving water safety at the beach, around pools, in homes and on farms, while being fun and engaging for young children.

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commercial news

Awards

Athlete recovery scores for Collingwood FC They might not have made it to the AFL Grand Final, but Collingwood Football Club won at the SPASA Victoria awards. Their warm water & cold water player recovery hydrotherapy pools earned Commercial Aquatics Australia gold in the commercial section.

The pools, seen here on the left, are designed to offer circular movement for players to actively recover after games with specially placed jets for injury management.

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commercial news

LGA

Upcoming tenders Warringah Aquatic Centre

Heat Pumps Supply and Installation Tender No: RFT 2014 - 057 The scope of the works includes: the design, supply, installation and commissioning new heat pumps and associated works to meet the Warringah Aquatic Centre thermal requirements.

Closing: 2.00pm Tuesday October 21, 2014.

Documents and further information: Warringah Council: (02) 9942 2111; www.warringah.nsw.gov.au

Shire of Gnowangerup

New Swimming Pool Design & Construction Tender No: RFT 1-2014/15 Design and construction of new swimming pool at Gnowangerup Recreation Complex.

Closing: 2pm Thursday, October 23, 2014

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commercial feature

Testing the waters for the Commonwealth Games

I

n August, hundreds of swimmers from around the Pacific basin came to the newly rebuilt Gold Coast Aquatic Centre at Southport to contest the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships.

This major swimming event was seen as a dress rehearsal for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, to test how the facility would operate under the serious pressure of a major international meet.

The pressure on the venue was exacerbated by a very un-Queensland cold front complete with storms sweeping across the Gold Coast right at the time of the competition.

Michael Brock, aquatic centres coordinator for the City of Gold Coast, admits that the spectators did find it a bit tough in the conditions.

“It was considered a test event for the Commonwealth Games and we got the worst weather you could imagine. So they’ll have to decide how far they will go to cover that possibility happening again.

“From our point of view, the spectator comfort was an issue. My own personal view is that we won’t put a roof over the whole facility, but it will be up to the Commonwealth Games Olympic Committee to decide whether to put one up over the seating.”

Overall he thinks the event went well and the feedback he got was that the venue performed well.

“Generally the feedback was, the facility was great, shame about the weather. It will give the committee a lot of food for thought about how they tackle that.”

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He stresses that the facility’s ongoing requirements will be quite different from the requirements for the Commonwealth Games.

This is because the pool is primarily a community pool, with the refurbishment funded 50 per cent by the Gold Coast City Council which views it as very important that there is a strong ongoing legacy component.

Also, after the Commonwealth Games, the aquatic centre will have hosted two of the biggest possible international meets they are likely to host for the foreseeable future, and events of similar size will be hard to find.

For that reason, the seating for the Commonwealth Games will boost capacity up to 10,000, but 90 per cent of it will be temporary. The legacy component will revert back to about 1000. The Pan Pacs seated 3800.

“If you were going to build a roof over the seating for the Commonwealth Games, it would have to be of such a height – about 20m high – that when the temporary seating is taken away the roof would look quite odd,” says Brock.

“So I think you wouldn’t look at a permanent roofing solution until after the Games, because how many games like this would you get?

We’ll have already had the Pan Pacs and the Commonwealth Games and they’re the big ones. I think you need to split it into: what do the Games need; and what does the venue need to be sustainable as a high performance facility community facility?

Swimming Australia

The competition pool, as the swimming is about to commence

“The right solution for the event might not be the right solution long term.”

Two other questions were what was the water like, and how did the transport work.

“From our point of view, the water quality was good,” says Brock.

“We were in six weeks prior and the only issue was getting enough bather load in the water to do the testing. The media said the clarity was very good and they could get good shots in the water.

“And while I don’t think there were any major transport issues, I think they can review all of those aspects. Ease of access, drop off zones. It generally worked well. The light rail was in operation and that was a big bonus – it was pretty heavily used.”

The upgrade

The $42 million dollar upgrade to the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre was funded 50-50 by the Gold Coast Council and the Queensland Government.

It encompasses a new 10-lane 50 metre competition pool, a new learn-to-swim pool, an elevated spectator concourse/ viewing terrace, new change room, gym and toilet facilities, community meeting rooms, event facilities, permanent seating for approximately 1000 people, and refurbishment of the existing eight-lane 50 metre pool and dive pool.

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The diving tower and pool

Paul Stevenson, one of Australia’s most highly regarded consultants, was the aquatic engineer for the project. With more than 1000 pools under his belt, including the Olympic pools for the Sydney and Beijing games, he is well qualified for the task.

Two separate plant rooms were built, one for competition pools and one for the leisure pools, and the six pools include a mix of disinfection systems.

“We considered all options including liquid chlorine, calcium hypochlorite, electrolytic generation of chlorine using salt, and electrolytic generation of chlorine using fresh water,” says Stevenson.

For the outdoor 25m pool and the splashpad, they decided to go with straight electrolytic saline running at 3500ppm from AIS. “The reason we did this is we didn’t want to end up with a big liquid chlorine store somewhere and of course the cost effectiveness of on-site chlorine generation,” he says.

“For the indoor learn-to-swim pool we used the Ecoline from AIS. That’s a freshwater chlorinator using a much lower TDS of around about 1200ppm. The reason we chose that is we didn’t want a high concentration of salt in an indoor pool. It’s not a good idea because of corrosion potential. Again, the cost effectiveness of on-site chlorine generation was taken into account.

“For the competition pools we were so close to choosing the Ecoline freshwater system,” he says. “In the end they went for cal hype feeders, due to cost considerations and also the desire to choose a technology proven over time for such an important competition pool.”

In addition, they put medium pressure Siemens UV on the indoor swimming pool to strip the chloramines.

“The pH is controlled primarily by CO2, but on the competition pools we also provide a supplementary acid system. They’re such big pools so we have the acid for use in conjunction with the CO2 so you can have a bit of flexibility in dosing methods.”

For the filtration, they ended up designing two ultrafine systems, one using a Defender system and one using an Atlas NPC system.

60 SPLASH! October-November 2014

Both systems are capable of filtering down to 1-2 microns using perlite – which the council wanted to use instead of DE due to OH&S considerations.

Both systems were documented, designed and tendered. The Atlas NPC won out on cost.

The aquatic centre also boasts a gigantic installation of Rheem’s Accent heat pumps.

“It’s more than two megawatts of heating,” says Stevenson. “It’s a very big heat pump installation and studies found that this was viable over a gas system and had a very good payback of less than three years.”

He says that in summer they’ll get a COP (co-efficient of performance) of at least 4.5 and in winter 3.5, providing an average COP of around 4. As mentioned below, the heat pumps are also equipped with a unique tariff control system which automatically adjusts water temperatures to maximise low energy tariffs.

Paul Stevenson of Stevenson + Associates

The super-efficient hot and cold tubs

One of the most ingenious elements of the project is the hot and cold tubs used for swimmers’ recovery after competition.

The system is believed to be a first in Australia and possibly the world. Using an Accent Air water-to-water heat pump from Rheem Pool Heating, it simultaneously heats the hot tub from the energy recovered from chilling the cold tub. Stevenson designed the superefficient system.

“Very little energy is wasted, as the Accent heat pump transfers heat from the cold tub to heat the hot tub,” he says.

It has been created so the tubs (both 2.2m in diameter and 900mm deep) don’t need their own water treatment plant, but rather utilise the huge capacity of the adjacent diving pool water to keep them crystal clean with fresh water on a daily basis.

When the tubs are in use, generally for a couple of hours each day, the water is kept clean by flushing with diving pool water very frequently.

“You’ve got a very short turnover,” says Brock. “You’ve got to swap that water within fifteen minutes.”

The heat exchanger ensures that the energy contained in the water from the hot or cold tub returning to the diving pool is then transferred back into the water coming from the diving pool and then entering the tubs.

It is this inter-relationship between the hot and cold tubs and the diving pool that is so unique.

“The benefits of this system are manifold,” says Stevenson. “Not only does it have low energy use, but the water is of very high quality.

“Unlike other systems, the tub water doesn’t have to be emptied, because it’s being constantly refreshed. Plus capital costs to install the system were lower as there’s two less water treatment plants to install, operate and maintain.”

The Accent unit was custom-designed by Rheem’s specialist heat pump engineers and contains twin compressors in a two-stage design to maximise energy efficiency and provide the flexibility of temperature control needed to complement the revolutionary concept.

The heat pump for the athlete recovery tubs was one of eight Accent Air heat pumps provided by Rheem for the aquatic centre, which required systems to heat almost nine million litres of water.

Heating was also needed for the existing 50m, 25m and diving pools, in addition to the new 50m competition pool, indoor learn-to-swim pool and splash pool.

Following an open tender, Rheem was contracted by Trisley Hydraulic Services to provide the heat pumps, which were built to specifications provided by Stevenson + Associates.

The heat pumps also include Building Maintenance Control (BMS) capabilities. This enables the operators to control and interrogate the units in relation to a broad range of operating parameters, including checking operation, data logging of heat pump performance and monitoring temperatures.

The smart controller also enables the temperature of the water to be automatically adjusted during tariff changes.

The centre features more than two megawatts of heat pump heating supplied by Rheem

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“The controller is a really big plus,” says Stevenson. “It means that as soon as the tariff hits high, the temperature of the water is automatically lowered by a quarter to half a degree and the heat pump turns off. And as soon as the tariff hits low, then the temperature of the water is bumped up and the heat pump begins operating again. It’s ideal for offsetting costs.”

For the community and the elite

Michael Brock says that the aim with the refurbishment was to end up with a top class competition facility on the Gold Coast, first rate training facilities across a wide variety of aquatic sports, and a community facility that will last into the future.

“It’s about not just swimming but a whole range of aquatic sports, be it swimming, diving, water polo, triathalon. We work in fairly close conjunction with the AIS diving facility at Chandler, where Diving Australia is based. We also have a fairly strong synchronised swimming program here as well. It’s basically the national team based here.

“We want to develop this as a training centre for a whole range of sports. We are one of Swimming Australia’s podium centres, of which there’s 11 or 12 in the country. We’d like to develop that relationship with the other sports as well.”

He says that it is a community facility first and foremost, with the result being a community facility that will accommodate an elite component.

“The trick for us is to get the balance right in blending the two.

Because, to be honest, the community use will be our bread and butter, and it’s about giving the community value,” he says. “A lot of rate payer dollars have gone into this, so it’s about providing the best possible community facility as well.”

The facility is very much as series of rectangular pools, with only one modest splash area.

“We haven’t gone too much into the recreational space,” says Brock.

“One reason is that the Broadwater Parklands – which is the precinct around the pool – contains a fairly large, cost-free, free-form play space called the rock pools. So we don’t really need to replicate that.”

Community use will include lap swimming, training, aquatic fitness and school competitions, and during the summer holidays they will provide less structured recreational activities, such as putting inflatables in the pools and opening up the dive boards under supervision.

The Pan Pacs were considered an overall success, although the weather affected spectators sitting on the mostly uncovered stands

Council has made a decision to manage the centre in-house up to and including the Commonwealth Games and then they’ll reassess it.

“There’s a few reasons for this,” says Brock. “One is that there’ll be quite a lot of disruption during the Commonwealth Games and the Pan Pacs, and potentially for other events as well. So council said lets run it, see exactly what it’s worth so if we do put it out to tender we’ll have a very clear handle on the return we might expect to the community for doing that.”

That also gives them the opportunity to pursue events like the Pan Pacific Masters.

“It’s a high participation, not necessarily high spectator, event,” he says.

“But from an economic benefit point of view, it really is good for the Gold Coast – it brings a lot of people in. We’re close to accommodation and we’ll have all the infrastructure for those sorts of events, so we won’t need to bring any overlay in.”

The redevelopment was delivered on time, starting on site in March 2013 with handover around middle of June 2014.

The 21st Commonwealth Games will run from April 4 to 15, 2018, and will include 6500 athletes and team officials from more than 70 nations. The para-sports program including the swimming component will be integrated into the event. n

21-23 June 2015 ASB Showground, Auckland New Zealand For the second time SPLASH! New Zealand will be co-located with buildnz & designex, offering pool manufacturers access to more than 5000 industry professionals.

SPLASH! is a must attend event for manufacturers, pool builders, water consultants, architects and pool service companies.

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To exhibit at buildnz|designex within the SPLASH! pavilion please email Karen at kjaques@intermedia.com.au or phone +61 2 8586 6135 NZ 0800 451 590

www.splashnzexpo.co.nz

62 SPLASH! October-November 2014

commercial feature

2014 Pan PaciďŹ c Championship Rank

Nation

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Total

1

United States

16

13

14

43

2

Australia

10

9

9

28 19

3

Japan

7

8

4

4

Brazil

1

2

1

4

5

Canada

1

1

5

7

6

South Korea

1

0

0

1

7

New Zealand

0

2

3

5

8

China

0

1

0

1

Swimming Australia

Project credits Client: Gold Coast City Council Lead contractor: Watpac Construction: Crystal Pools Aquatic engineer: Stevenson + Associates Services and civil engineer: Arup Structural engineer: Geoff Ninnes Fong Architect: Cox Architecture

The hot and cold tubs, which utilise an ingenious heat transfer system

Project manager: Project Services Filtration: Atlas filters with Aquaperl perlite media

Hydraulics: Trisley Hydraulic Services Heating: Rheem Pool Heating’s Accent heat pumps UV disinfection: Siemens (Wallace and Teirnan) Electrolytic disinfection: AIS Disinfection control: BECSys5 Pool pH & Chlorine Controllers Pumping: Southern Cross Cleaning: Maytronics cleaners Timing: Swiss Timing

The clear choice in filtration AQUAPERL by Australian Perlite www.ausperl.com.au 1300 765 925

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commercial feature

Jewel in the desert Above: The pool was built around the rocky outcrop of a 200 million year old mesa

T

he beautiful, remote Amangiri resort is located in the southwest region of the USA known as the Four Corners, where the states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona meet. It boasts one of the most dramatic landscapes in the USA with deep canyons and towering plateaux.

Amangiri is in the centre of the Grand Circle, surrounded by such iconic attractions as the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, the Grand Staircase and Zion National Park. It is also a safe haven for endangered species such as the regal California condor, whose wingspan approaches three metres.

The region has been home for centuries to the native Navajo and Hopi tribes yet is sparsely populated and presents the raw landscape for which the American Southwest has become famous. It is a five-hour drive from Las Vegas, four from Phoenix or six from Salt Lake, so anyone entering the resort by road has plenty of opportunity to experience the overwhelming “Fordian” landscape.

64 SPLASH! October-November 2014

The first thing you’d want to do after the long drive is to take a dip in one of the most spectacular swimming pools in the world.

Keeping in the tone of an eco resort focussing on a wilderness experience, the pool was built around the rocky outcrop of a 200 million year old mesa, creating a dominant feature from the natural formation and an unforgettable experience for swimmers.

At 1350 metres above sea level and hundreds of kilometres from the nearest city, the resort is an ideal place to enjoy the desert sky. Many suites also include their own pools and indoor and outdoor sleeping arrangements, so you can actually spend the night beneath the myriad stars, or if you prefer, float on your back in the pool or soak in a spa while watching the evening sky.

Readers venturing to Utah should consider the tariff of this exclusive resort with all suites over $1000 per night and villas up to $8000. However, a unique experience is assured. n Contacts: www.amanresorts.com

commercial feature

Above: Amangiri is in the centre of the Grand Circle, surrounded by iconic attractions like Grand Canyon and Monument Valley Left: Many suites also include their own pools and indoor and outdoor sleeping arrangements Below: It is 1350 metres above sea level and hundreds of kilometres from the nearest city

October-November 2014  SPLASH!  65

UR YO NOW OK CE BO A SP

POOL & SPA TRADE SHOW 20-21 May 2013

Pool & Spa Trade Show 20-21 May 2015 Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

For more information visit www.piscinesplashasia.com or call SING 8006 163 169, AUST 1300 789 845, NZ 0800 451 590 Platinum Sponsor

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new products

Float, relax and glow These spectacular floating lounges are not only comfortable, they actually glow in the dark, providing a sensational ambiance for evening pool parties.

The French designed Fugu air furniture (pronounced foo-goo) is the lightest furniture in the world combining simplicity, quality and design appeal. Easy to carry and made from sustainable materials, they have a contemporary design that is both comfortable and ergonomic.

They are manufactured in TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) a highly resistant plastic used in many fields such as Zodiac boats. This plastic is extremely elastic, resistant to any kind of climate (hot or cold) and completely odourless.

They are sold online through www.lussostore.com.au but wholesale and trade enquires are welcome at the website below.

Contact: www.ludolifestyle.com

The underwater drill

Originally designed for scientific and government organisations, the Nemo Submersible Electric Drill is an all-weather tool, suitable for use in wet and corrosive environments. It operates at the same capacity as its dry-land counterparts, but allows you to do jobs around and under the water.

This waterproof cordless drill is perfect for pool repairs and the diving and boating industries. It utilises a simpler drive train than pneumatic or hydraulic drills, making it a fraction of the price and easier to manoeuvre since there are no pumps, compressors, or links to the surface. It weighs in at less than 3kg and has a 13mm stainless steel chuck and 18V li-on battery.

The drill has been tested at depths of up to 20m and may be used in fresh, chlorinated and salt water.

Biggest and best ever catalogue

Contact: www.NemoPowerTools.com

Following the integration of Pool Systems and Niagara Pool Supplies earlier this year, the new Niagara catalogue now has more than 10,000 products, which Pool Systems says is the most comprehensive range of swimming pool equipment and accessories ever published.

The catalogue includes photos, exploded diagrams, identification guides, flow charts and detailed descriptions, make it an essential tool for all in the pool industry, and the comprehensive index pages and clear ordering codes make it easy to use. As it contains no pricing it can be shown to the pool owner who is trying to identify what they need and it is also a helpful tool as it identifies parts and products no longer available, often suggesting alternatives.

Contact: www.poolsystems.com.au October-November 2014 SPLASH!

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new products

Phelps to develop swim range

US swimming champion Michael Phelps has joined with Hall of Fame Coach, Bob Bowman and swimming equipment manufacturer Aqua Sphere to commence development of a range of innovative products.

Aquaperl ultrafine filter media

The Gold Coast Aquatic Centre is the latest installation of ultrafine filtration using Aquaperl perlite specifically developed for the aquatics industry.

Aqua Sphere makes swimwear, wetsuits, eyewear and accessories for triathletes, open-water swimmers and fitness swimmers. Phelps already has the Michael Phelps Swim School to help teach elite swimming skills, and this venture will see him to innovate technical aspects of swimming products and teaching aids for elite-level competitive swimmers as well as entry-level and fitness swimmers.

Contact: www.AquaSphereSwim.com

Perlite is a generic name for a naturally occurring siliceous volcanic rock. After treatment, the perlite filter media exhibits a unique, jagged interlocking structure with a myriad of microscopic channels affording optimum flow rates and clarities for a wide variety of applications.

Comparative products for ultrafine filtration such as diatomaceous earth (DE) can have high crystalline silica levels. However, because perlite is a GRAS (generally recognised as safe) substance, it can be easily disposed of.

Ausperl is the primary supplier of perlite filter media in Australia and New Zealand, with manufacturing taking place in Sydney.

Contact: info@ausperl.com.au; www.ausperl.com.au

THE NEW EMAUX E POWER!

ENERGY SAVING EFFICIENCY SWIMMING POOL PUMP • 2 Models to choose from EPV150, EPV300 • Super Quiet • Robust and Reliable • Superior Energy Saving Technology • User Friendly programming • Latest Hydraulic design to maximize your investment SAVE UP TO

85% ENERGY

Power consumption reduces as pump speed and water flow reduces.

Reducing the pump speed by 50%, flow rate drops by 50% but the power consumption reduces by up to 85%

1300 293 633 | info@emaux.com.au | www.emaux.com.au 68

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October-November 2014

new products

Stay in touch with multiple pools

Becs Technology’s Sys5 pool pH and chlorine controllers from the USA make it easier for commercial pool owners and operators to stay in touch and in control of multiple pools. The system has recently been installed at the new Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, the Centenary Pool in Brisbane and Wet’nWild Sydney.

It only requires a single blue CAT5 ethernet cable to the plant room or a Becs wifi module with Windows compatible software. The operator can then view the performance of multiple pools on a single PC screen, providing immediate notification of any alarm conditions with automatic callout by e-mail or text to up to eight contacts, and simple remote adjustment of set points and alarm points by the operator from the office.

Contact: Tim Batt Water Solutions: 0438 889 268; timtbws@bigpond.com

Continuous Duty Blowers If you want efficient, reliable aeration, along with quality advice and support, ESAM is the blower for your business.

Benefits of ESAM blowers: • Energy efficient aeration • Delamination of temperature layers • Smooth & quiet operation • 5 Year warranty • Induction motor (brushless) …and service to you is our priority.

www.sidechannelblowers.com.au Phone 03 9484 5719

October-November 2014 SPLASH! 69

new products

Choose salt or minerals

The Zodiac TRi Series has been reinvented with the new TRi-XO CrossOver series chlorinator. The TRi-XO CrossOver sets a new level for flexibility and control for the pool owner, as it the TRi-XO software has been designed to configure to either using traditional salt-based chlorination, or to “crossover” to the increasingly popular method of using mineral salts.

Reconfiguring the software can be reset at any time if the user wishes to change from one mode to the other.

Contact: www.zodiac.com.au

New mineral salt range Released in conjunction with the Zodiac TRi-XO CrossOver is the new line of mineral-based premium salts called Element. These new mineral salts are a sodium-based, magnesium enriched blend designed to make the bathing experience much more enjoyable for all skin types.

There are two new kinds of mineral salts: Element Activate which is used when converting a current salt pool over to an Element pool; and Element Mineral Salts used for all new pools or liquid/ granular chlorine pools.

Contact: www.zodiac.com.au

Salt safe dunking Whether it’s one-on-one or team play, basketball is even more fun when played in the pool. New from SR Smith is a continuous dual post basketball game, designed to stand up to the toughest competitors as well as the environment.

It features SealedSteel vinyl-coated stainless-steel posts and rim.

Deck anchors come with the game for easy installation and the whole thing can be removed from the deck for seasonal storage. In addition to several pool basketball game models, SR Smith also has the Swim N’ Spike swimming pool volleyball game.

Contact: www.srsmith.com/au 70

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October-November 2014

Wireless remote control

The QTII is a programmable wireless remote designed to add convenience and portable control capabilities to Pentair’s SunTouch pool control system, which up until now had been lacking this capability.

The QTII is also compatible with the more advanced EasyTouch and IntelliTouch systems.

Contact: www.pentair.com.au

new products

Cooling mist for summer

Ozmist is Australia’s leading outdoor air conditioning company, and they have now introduced Italian designed and manufactured outdoor air conditioners Fresco, Aurora and Atmosphera to the Australian market.

The Aurora and Fresco are perfect for small/medium gardens, and great for the poolside, as well as terraces, patios and gazebos. The Aurora has a light which makes it perfect for night time gatherings. Both models have room for drinks and snacks, and both considerably decrease the temperature, making them ideal for summer entertaining.

The Atmosphera is also fantastic for bars, restaurants, pubs, ice cream parlours and stalls.

The air conditioners also keep mosquitoes at bay and neutralise odours and dust, which ensures a much more enjoyable outdoor experience.

Contact: 1300 306 478 RETAILERS WANTED

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October-November 2014 SPLASH! 71

new products

Disinfection with pH control

Pool Controls’ flagship product is the Chemigem D10 Water Management System, which makes pool water chemistry manageable and allows pool owners to save time and money, while ensuring their pool is safe to swim in. The Chemigem D10 uses a multi-electrode probe to analyse water chemistry and then delivers precise doses of chemicals to keep the water perfectly balanced all the time.

Now, if you prefer a salt water or mineral salt pool, Pool Controls have the SG Mineral system or the SG Series salt chlorinator, which includes versions that come with pH control via a peristaltic pump.

Contact: www.poolcontrols.com.au

Protect Pool, Protect Your Your Pool, Protect Kids Protect Your Your Kids View our online video showing common pool fencing faults and how to spot them at View our online video showing common pool fencing faults and how to spot them at www.kidshealth.chw.edu.au/projects/drowning-prevention/swimming-pool-fencing www.kidshealth.chw.edu.au/projects/drowning-prevention/swimming-pool-fencing

KIH1025/0811/SC KIH1025/0811/SC

New mineral system

Pool Controls’ new Gemini Mineral system is the latest addition to their Gemini range. Chlorinators in the Gemini range utilise a probe to control the chlorinator.

Pool Controls specialises in automated pool sanitation systems and produces a full range of options – including salt water chlorinators, monitored chemical feeder systems and a new chlorine-free alternative. They can provide balanced advice on which option is best for which situation.

Contact: www.poolcontrols.com.au

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new products

New chlorine-free dosing system The most recent addition to the Pool Controls range is the AquaFresh chlorine-free automatic dosing system.

People who suffer from allergies that are aggravated by chlorine may find a better alternative with the AquaFresh system which uses PHMB (polyhexamethylene biguanide) as the active ingredient.

PHMB is approved as a pool sanitiser and has been widely used in the US for many years. It is also used as a disinfectant in pharmaceuticals and is a proven, safe alternative to chlorine that results in outstanding water clarity and makes pools even more pleasurable to swim in.

Contact: www.poolcontrols.com.au

Instant action with online app The new PM 630 from Tintometer brings data management and Bluetooth functionality to the highly proven PM 600 series of photometers. Already simplifying accurate water analysis with 34 pre-calibrated pool methods, the series has now been expanded to include wireless Bluetooth data transmission. Now, results can be quickly and easily transferred to smartphones and tablets.

The system is further enhanced by the free Lovibond App, AquaLX, enabling the immediate review, process and evaluation of measured results directly on-site. Any fluctuation to expected results is immediately visible and instant action can be taken.

AquaLX complements the Langelier Index App, PoolM8. Both Lovibond Apps are available for Android and iOS and are free to download from the respective stores.

Always get the industry news Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing Simply scan the QR code or go to www.splashmagazine.com.au For the latest swimming pool and spa news as it happens

Contact: www.lovibondwater.com

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AUSTRALIA’S LEADING POOL BUILDERS CHOOSE PARAMOUNT IN-FLOOR CLEANING SYSTEMS Paramount In-Floor Cleaning Systems offer you and your customers the perfect cleaning solution when working together to create the perfect outdoor oasis. Astonish your clients with the incredible effectiveness of an in-floor cleaning and circulation system.

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