The UK water leisure trade has traditionally been unwilling to
overcome its one-piece pool prejudice.
Popular in the southern hemisphere markets such as Australia
and South Africa, the all-in-one option has also gained a
significant following across France and mainland Europe.
Meanwhile, the sceptical UK pool traditionalists stone-walled the
‘washing up bowl’ option in favour of more conventional home pool
building methods such as block and liner and panel pools.
At last, the one-piece pool tide is turning; buoyed by
improvements in product quality with the backing of long
warranties and a healthy dose of competition.
Swimtek was one of the first companies to introduce all-inone-
pools to the UK. “The trade has been slow to get involved in
the one-piece market,” says native Australian, Graham Witham ,
the man behind Swimtek.
“Yet the public are better informed than they were 20 yearsago when I started to make the pools in the UK and they are
looking more towards the advantages of a one-piece pool,”
Graham says.
“With the middle to bottom of the market falling away we
are deliberately trying to appeal to a higher end, more discerning
customer who wants and expects a better product,” Graham
continues.
“We took the decision to improve the over-all appearance of
the pools by offering bespoke colour schemes and also by using
a new gel coat system designed in Australia and manufactured
under license in Europe,” Graham explains.
“The manufacturing was moved to a modern new factory
where the pools are manufactured in a climate-controlled
environment and to a much improved heavier lay up (thickness)
for extra strength in transport and life-long durability.”
TOP PERFORMERS
Other top performers in the one-piece sector include Starline
whose strategy of marketing the Monoblock pool directly to the
end user via quality newspaper advertising is raising product
awareness.
“The potential for growth for the one-piece pool market is
huge as product awareness grows for both the trade and end
user,” says Starline’s Darren Brown.
“Also, as the market for new pool installations has its peak and
troughs, the fast installation times of a one-piece pool will allow
the trade to service the peaks much more efficiently and with
fewer staff.
“The one-piece pool principle takes away a lot of the technical
aspects of traditional pool building which opens the market up to
the less experienced installer, especially with something like the
Starline Monoblock which offers the simplicity of a one-piece pool
installation along with a very high specification.”
TRADE BENEFITS
The Starline Monoblock offers the trade many advantages and
selling points to market to the end user whilst also having the
benefit of fast installation times coupled with the ability to fix
costs with a factory-built, quality controlled pool and therefore
better guaranteed profit margins.
Starline also offer help and advice in the transportation and
delivery of the pools, with specially adapted delivery vehicles
which can crane the pools off the trailer and move them
independently on site making the logistics of delivery far easier.
Starline pools can literally go where no other pools can reach.
Along with the benefits of the Roldeck pool cover, Starline have
designed the Monoblock for family use with a constant depth to
enable children to interact and play in the whole pool area with a
standing ledge round the whole pool for younger swimmers.
The pools are available in five colours and come with a range
of overlapping copings which provide a very neat finish to the top
of the pool.
To read the rest of this article subscribe to Pool and Spa Scene magazine today by clicking the button at the top left of this site!
