Sustainability and what being Climate Care Certified means

The team at Aquanort Pools has taken matters into their own hands, attaining the penultimate of sustainable achievements available for pool companies across Australia and New Zealand - becoming Climate Care Certified. This accolade represents the company’s commitment to environmental responsibility and its strive towards minimising environmental impact within its industry. 

In September 2023, Aquanort Pools became Climate Care Certified, and being the first pool company in the South Island to have done so, we wanted to learn more. We dived into conversation with Todd, Tom and Nicola of Aquanort Pools to discuss sustainability, what being Climate Care Certified really means, and why it was such an important part of their sustainability strategy.

Spearheaded by SPASA (Swimming Pool & Spa Association), the Climate Care Certification considers various factors, from water efficiency to energy efficiency, noise reduction measures and overall environmentally sustainable designs. These attributes come together to work on reducing the carbon footprint of swimming pool companies around AU/NZ, where water, a precious commodity, is traditionally used in larger quantities. 

“It was important for us to obtain this because we want to keep moving the business forward, and we want to continue to lead the industry, certainly in our geographical area, but also try to stay at the forefront by offering our customers an industry-leading product,” says Todd of Aquanort Pools.

“We want to stay at the forefront and be able to offer these things and do our bit for the environment by making these pools as efficient as we can, especially since water is a precious resource. It's just how it will have to go - as time passes, it will become increasingly important.”

As the construction industry continues to evolve with the times, materials grow with it - but sustainability is more than just a product; it is an ethos carried through each step in a business, from recycling your paper in the office to making significant changes when you're on site.

"We're a third-generation business - we've been around for sixty years and want to be seen as an industry leader, not just resting on our laurels and doing what we have always done. We’re always looking at what we could be doing better. When we got the climate care certification, we were so happy, but we also wanted to take a step back and look at the layers; what is our sustainability ethos? What are we doing to make the company more sustainable overall? It's starting that conversation," says Nicola.

"We have reviewed our current sustainability position, including calculating our carbon footprint, looking for ways to reduce this and our impact on the environment."

"We have ambitious sustainability goals to work towards as a company. Implementing energy and waste reduction plans, offsetting our carbon usage through native tree planting, renewable power (solar) and transitions to hybrid vehicles."

How do you think sustainability is shaping the future of construction? 

We consider the longevity of our products - we don't want to use or do something that must be redone regularly. We're trying to get away from methods like pool painting and steer more towards resurfacing - we're implementing strategies that will last longer and require less maintenance or long-term water usage.

Going forward, we will have to be way more careful about how we use things, and water is a significant factor to consider.  We're doing big projects, especially over the Nelson areas, such as Tasman and Māpua, where they don't have access to that amount of water, so we must truck it in. I think that has got everybody thinking - especially our team. In previous years, the hose and the pool were all you needed - it's not like that anymore. 

Swimming pools are a small part of the construction industry, but the demand for passive homes is where we're seeing a significant shift.

What are Aquanort Pools doing to minimise their environmental impact?

One of the things we've implemented is recycling our timber - we spend time cleaning it and then reusing it, helping to cut down on our waste production. Besides trying to be innovative with materials, we're focusing on improving methods within the pool installation. The goal with a swimming pool is to have the least resistance in your pipework and plumbing as possible, so it allows everything to be really efficient. With this, we've made the call to change all of our plumbing to sweep elbows, meaning we use a more extended and rounder elbow, resulting in less friction and resistance with your water flow. We also now use the MultiCyclone, which reduces the amount of backwashing and pre-filtering the water before it goes to waste.

We also prioritise talking with our key suppliers about their environmental policies and practices to support change across the wider pool industry.

What is the point of difference with Aquanort compared to other companies in the industry?

The personal connections, having those conversations with our clients, and knowing what's important to them. We're very family-oriented and quality-orientated, so we prefer to work with fewer people and have really good relationships. Our goal is to build a pool for you and then help you look after it for the rest of its lifetime, whether it's through the pool shop or service work. We want to curate the best product possible for our clients.

Discover more about Aquanort Pools on ArchiPro.