Transforming your home with a bespoke pool house is a luxurious and life-enhancing choice. Designing and building a pool house is quite unlike any other building project and requires more than just finding a competent builder.

Gary Taylor of Origin Leisure, the UK’s oldest established, multiaward winning pool company with more than 30 years’ experience, gives his advice on how to go about the ultimate home improvement.

It’s important to understand that indoor pools require specialist design in three major areas: the pool chamber, the building structure and the management of the pool building environment (heating, dehumidification and ventilation). All of these specialisms should be integrated into a consolidated design from the start, to avoid disruptive, complicated and potentially costly alterations after your pool house has been built.

Look for a company that has all this specialist knowledge under one roof. The safest way to achieve harmony in your Guide to the ultimate home improvement building project is to have one single company responsible for all aspects of the design and build of your dream pool house. Of course it is possible to work with individual contractors but they will require more management by you, and the success of your project depends heavily on how well they work with each other. You don’t want to get caught in the middle of a blame game and have the headache of multiple people to deal with.

Bringing your dream to life has some distinct stages. At Origin Leisure we work through four key stages to create the perfect bespoke indoor pool.

1. Plan. This involves comprehensive feasibility studies and designs, from initial concepts, through to architectural drawings, and 3D CAD and colour visuals. This stage will also cover your planning applications.

2. Design. Our structural engineers and technical team work through the details of every design aspect, from specialist heating, dehumidification and ventilation design to the detail of the materials used, lighting, interior design and even energy source. Your pool house can also include green energy options, such as solar or air/ground source heat pumps

3. Build. From the moment the first spade hits the ground the entire construction will be project managed by the same team that you have been working with from
the outset, right through to liaising with all the utilities companies on your behalf.

4. Maintain. Your pool house is for life, and we understand the maintenance this requires. We also look after this final stage of the process for many of our customers, from routine maintenance to emergency support, winter-proofing your building, and water health checks.

It’s important you have peace of mind about your chosen pool company, so in addition to speaking to existing customers and seeing examples of work, here is a checklist of things to ensure your chosen pool company offers:

• Over 30 years’ experience in indoor swimming pool design and construction
• 10 year warranty
• Members of the Federation of Master Builders
• Accredited members of SPATA (the Swimming Pooland Allied Trades Association).

The SPATA awards are long established, and are considered the UK’s number one accolades for excellence in the swimming and leisure industry. This year alone Origin Leisure has won four awards for indoor and outdoor pools – two Golds, a Silver and a Bronze

Matt and Kerrie Smith chose Origin Leisure to create their indoor swimming pool after being inspired by the 2012 Olympics. They wanted to make a big improvement to their country retreat that would suit the whole family. “My son has a friend who has an indoor pool and seeing the amount of flexibility it gave to the family was what swayed our decision”, explains Kerrie. “They could have a number of children over at the house, all happily playing in the pool all day. Our kids, aged six, ten and 13, are at the age now where kicking a ball outside isn’t enough to keep them entertained for hours on end.”

As with most areas of the house, the children and the adults use the space differently. An indoor swimming pool is no exception – it had to be a space for the whole family to enjoy. “We needed it to tick all the boxes; entertain the children, whilst also being a space where the adults could exercise.” Since making the decision to add an indoor swimming pool to their home, Matt and Kerrie haven’t been happier. “A swimming pool is the best thing we’ve done to the house and we wouldn’t think twice about doing it again. We knew we were going to enjoy it, but we absolutely love it. My advice to anyone thinking about investing in a swimming pool is not to think twice. I smile every time I look at the pool and it’s brought so much fun to our home.”

HOUSE & GARDEN - March 2016