Northamptonshire-based Lifestyle Group was pleasantly surprised to see a very familiar pool used as a location for Hunted, a BBC One series shown recently, to national acclaim. This swimming pool’s shotcrete shell was built by Lifestyle’s subsidiary company, Guntek Ltd in 2005. The build specification was 200mm thick shotcrete with double steel reinforcement. The pool interior and surround were finished in white Italian marble to stunning effect.
Swimming Pools
The John Preston Pool & Spa Services team worked around the clock, seven days a week, right up to Christmas Eve, to ensure this outstanding pool hall project was finished in time for what was a festive season to remember for one lucky customer. The David family live near the Lancashire coast in Formby, in five acres of woodland that, as well as the new pool hall, boasts its own go-kart track and tennis courts, The pool is set in an ancillary building separate from the house and is constructed from a huge oak framework supporting a glass roof with a six metre span.
Commercial pool specialists, Alba Pools, has recently completed the refurbishment of the swimming pool at Kimbolton School. Key to the successful transformation was the installation of a new Alkorplan lining system to the pool tank, fitted by a specialist team from Aquaflex. Originally opened in 2000, it took several years to realise there were fundamental […]
In the world of swimming and sports centres the growth of excellence in community facilities has been driven by a few key players. At the forefront of the design and delivery of some stunning buildings – including the Olympic Aquatics Centre – is the number one company, S&P Architects. With dozens of prestigious projects under their belt throughout the UK and Ireland it is difficult to comprehend the size of their operation, with regional offices in London, Nottingham, Glasgow and Dublin. They are soon to open an office in Birmingham. At the helm of today’s company, founded by two architects in 1982 – Peter Sergeant and Mark Potiriadis – is a man who admits he is hardly ever in the same office two days running.
They say success breeds success but for spa retailing couple Peter and Rachel Grinnall, of Midlands-based Complete Spas, it seems the harder they work, the luckier they get! The entrepreneurial pair first thought of opening their own spa retail business five years ago. “Rachel and I went out on a sunny afternoon with £5k in our back pocket with the hope of buying a ‘proper’ hot tub as we had a spa in a box for three years and loved it,” recalls Peter.
One-piece pools are becoming increasingly popular across India, in both commercial and residential projects. With hotels, townships, and private homes sprouting up across the subcontinent, coupled with the rise of India’s middle class; the market potential for ready-made pools is set to soar. Ready-made pools are not only cheaper than traditional pools but require significantly less time to install.
Soon to be proclaimed by the Guinness World Records as the largest man-made swimming pool in the world, the process of filling the 120,000 m² Crystal Lagoon at the Citystars, Sharm El Sheikh, began at the end of October and took 21 days to complete. The new resort takes the world’s biggest swimming pool title from current holders, San Alfonso del Mar resort in Chile, a gargantuan blue man-made ‘lake’ spanning the length of 20 Olympic-size swimming pools and filled with 66 million gallons of water.
There’s almost nothing more relaxing than enjoying a luxurious dip in a hot tub, except perhaps taking a slow cruise down a beautiful river. Now you can combine them both with a cruise in an ingeniously designed hybrid hot tub boat. The Hot Tug is powered by steam, generated from a woodburning stove to heat the water and a propeller engine to keep you sailing downstream. The boat contains up to 2,000 litres of water and comes with either an integrated electric motor or an outboard model. The wood stove in the bow of the boat heats the water in about 2.5 hours up to 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees F.) just by making a little fire with normal logs. Available to rent or buy, the Hot Tug is made from wood and fitted with glass-fibre reinforced polyester, measuring 240cm by 380cm by 110 cm.
The confirmation of Ross Morris as the new chairman of the National Leisure group of companies heralds what looks set to be an exciting chapter in the history of the organisation. Ross, of Splash Pool Supplies, based in East Sussex, had been vice chairman for two years. His first official duties coincided with a National Leisure networking weekend event held at Coombe Abbey Country House Hotel, near Coventry, last month.
They promoted it as the event you cannot afford to miss. Lyon Piscine and Aqualie 2012, two benchmark exhibitions for swimming pool and spa professionals certainly lived up to that billing. Simply put, the Lyon exhibition event is the biggest and most important global show for the combined pool and spa sectors. It brings together 600 exhibitors, 1,000 brands from 90 countries and in the region of 18,000 visitors to Lyon. Traditionally, the first opportunity to see new developments in Europe, the combined Piscine and Aqualie 2012 events are also an exceptional opportunity to explore the latest key trends in the pool and spa markets.
