After reading the thread, “bad pools” I can relate! My swim team has been cut to two lanes-making it difficult for 10-15 people to lap swim. We have had several problems including swimming against bugs who swim faster than we do, pool temperature at a constant 86 degrees, and a difficult club manager. We have tried talking with the club; however, it is the only pool in town. We have discussed the idea of building a pool; however, we have no idea where to begin. Our goal is to build a competitive pool that the high school, age group, and masters teams could use for practices and competitions. We are in a great location—a city of 250,000 and several small towns in the surrounding area. We would like to bring several new “aquatics” ideas to this area. We are only 10 years behind the rest of the world! We are having a difficult time finding a “ball park” estimate of what it would cost for a 50m pool with a diving well. Does anyone have some suggestions of where we should start? Thanks!!
Thinking off the top of my head, here are a number of things that many pools do wrong that are very easy to do right if you think about it:
* Make the diving well separate if you can. This allows you to keep the diving well water warmer than the competition pool.
* Put in a lot of deck space. Then put in more. Has anyone ever been to a pool that had "enough" deck space?
* Think about storage. Whatever storage space you're building in - double it, at least. There's no such thing as a pool with too much storage.
* Think about running swim meets. Think about where the timing system goes, where meet operations goes, etc. If you put this area above the pool deck level (such as in the spectator area above), make sure there is a fast easy way to get from the "booth" to the pool deck. Also, consider a closed-off deck-level area that is air conditioned for meet operations.
* Think about wires, cabling and electricity. Put in enough electrical to cover any need you might have. Put in plenty of electricity for wherever you want to have a concession stand. The meet operations area needs electricity. Everything should be networked. There should be water-sealed outlets around the pool for data plug in if you need to run a check-in table somewhere on deck, etc.
* Think about traffic patterns and security for different events. Where are people coming from, and going to? Can you design entrances so that everyone flows through a single choke point area so it's easy to get information to people if you need to? Is it easy to keep spectators off the pool deck for certain events?
* Walls. People will tape things to the walls. So make the walls with something that resists tape damage. (I.e., use tiles on the walls instead of a painted or other surface).
* PA. Think about how you will be doing public address, and designing so that people can hear the PA system everywhere in the pool. For big meets, does your PA also work out in the hallway where your concession stand is?
* Deep. Make it deep enough to be a good fast pool.
* Climate. Skylights can be awkward (as someone else pointed out)... both with cold winter condensation, and also blinding sunlight during backstroke events.
* Multi-use. Think about designing such that you can get as many uses as you can.. swimming, diving, aquarobics, fitness, water polo, etc.
* Locker rooms. Put in enough showers. Has anyone ever been to a pool that had too many showers?
-Rick
Thinking off the top of my head, here are a number of things that many pools do wrong that are very easy to do right if you think about it:
* Make the diving well separate if you can. This allows you to keep the diving well water warmer than the competition pool.
* Put in a lot of deck space. Then put in more. Has anyone ever been to a pool that had "enough" deck space?
* Think about storage. Whatever storage space you're building in - double it, at least. There's no such thing as a pool with too much storage.
* Think about running swim meets. Think about where the timing system goes, where meet operations goes, etc. If you put this area above the pool deck level (such as in the spectator area above), make sure there is a fast easy way to get from the "booth" to the pool deck. Also, consider a closed-off deck-level area that is air conditioned for meet operations.
* Think about wires, cabling and electricity. Put in enough electrical to cover any need you might have. Put in plenty of electricity for wherever you want to have a concession stand. The meet operations area needs electricity. Everything should be networked. There should be water-sealed outlets around the pool for data plug in if you need to run a check-in table somewhere on deck, etc.
* Think about traffic patterns and security for different events. Where are people coming from, and going to? Can you design entrances so that everyone flows through a single choke point area so it's easy to get information to people if you need to? Is it easy to keep spectators off the pool deck for certain events?
* Walls. People will tape things to the walls. So make the walls with something that resists tape damage. (I.e., use tiles on the walls instead of a painted or other surface).
* PA. Think about how you will be doing public address, and designing so that people can hear the PA system everywhere in the pool. For big meets, does your PA also work out in the hallway where your concession stand is?
* Deep. Make it deep enough to be a good fast pool.
* Climate. Skylights can be awkward (as someone else pointed out)... both with cold winter condensation, and also blinding sunlight during backstroke events.
* Multi-use. Think about designing such that you can get as many uses as you can.. swimming, diving, aquarobics, fitness, water polo, etc.
* Locker rooms. Put in enough showers. Has anyone ever been to a pool that had too many showers?
-Rick
