Europe To Launch Combined Standards

The draft publication of a combined set of European standards for residential swimming pools is now ready for public consultation. The documents relate to pool construction and installation for in-ground and above ground pools. Impacting on everyone involved in residential pool provision; these standards will become an important part of the work that is done relating to swimming pool construction and installation. The Standards will be revised in the Autumn and will be re-circulated for the final time for last minute editorial changes, before being officially released in the New Year. The Swimming Pool and Allied Trade Association (SPATA) and the Institute of Swimming Pool Engineers (ISPE) will be coordinating feedback from the industry to give to British Standards Institute (BSI), who are the relevant standards making body in the UK. The industry has set itself a target of having all of the feedback provided to BSI by Wednesday July 31st this year. PARIS MEET All of the comments made around Europe will then be collated and discussed at a meeting being held in Paris at the end of September, to finalise the documents. There are three draft working documents and they are prEN 16582 Parts 1, 2 and 3. (The “prEN” signifies a draft European Norm). The easiest way for the industry to make their own comments on these draft Standards will be to use the BSI’s Draft Review System online. The relevant links for these versions of the documents are available via:

The documents will be discussed by SPATA’s Technical Committee and subject to demand, SPATA will host an online meeting, via WebEx, for any company that wants to hear more about the documents contained within prEN 16582 Parts 1 to 3. The WebEx sessions will be run firstly on Thursday 13th June and then again on Tuesday 18th June from 9am. Both WebEx meetings start at 9am and companies will need to email SPATA (admin@spata.co.uk) to confirm their interest and then an invite and joining instructions will be provided. SPATA will retain their own Standards, where applicable, as the new European standards will not cover all of the topics that are currently featured in the SPATA Standards. SPATA will revise any of their Standards impacted by the new European guidelines. Along with the draft Standards for residential pools, there are also draft revisions of: Standards for Diving Boards; Moveable Floors and Bulkheads; Swimming Pool inlets and Outlets and Leisure Water Features; Swimming Pool Covers.

SPATA