Each year, the British Swimming Pool Federation’s standards body, SPATA (Swimming Pool and Allied Trades Association), stages an awards competition to find the best pools from entries that pool retailers and contractors have submitted during the previous twelve months.

The entries are judged anonymously by key industry figures, and the awards are presented in February at a gala dinner held on the first night of the UK pool industry’s annual trade show, Spatex.

National Leisure members are frequent award-winners in this prestigious competition. Listed below are some of their recent award-winning pools.

Grayfox Swimming Pools Ltd, Stow, Lincolnshire: Winner of the Peter Geekie Award for Retailer Excellence. Grayfox were congratulated on the quality of their response to a ‘mystery shopper request’ for a project quotation.

Rio Pool Construction, Gloucestershire: They were the undoubted stars of the 2005 SPATA Awards competition, carrying off two Gold awards and two certificates of merit, along with the prestigious Pool Contractor of the Year award and a Special Award for Excellence in Pool Design and Construction.

Tanby Construction, Warlingham, Surrey: Joint winners of the Gold Award for an Automatic Fully Retractable Pool Cover with this stunning vanishing-edge pool with a view to the wooded valley below, and featuring a fully retractable slatted cover and Pool Pebble finish.

Sussex Pools won the Gold for Liner pool over £25,000.


National Leisure members figured prominently in the 2004 SPATA Awards, carrying off a total of five class awards and one overall award. Oyster Pools & Leisure of Raglan, near Abergavenny in South Wales, came away with an amazing haul of four awards – including the coveted ‘Pool of the Year’ accolade for an imaginatively disguised above-ground pool installation.

The judges decided that Oyster Pools merited this highly sought-after award for the “all-round quality of design and execution in implementing an imaginative solution to the client’s brief on a modest budget”. Oyster Pools & Leisure also won the Above-Ground Pools class with the same pool.

In addition, Oyster took the Gold Award and also a Certificate of Merit in the ‘Liner Pools over £25,000’ and ‘Residential Indoor Pool in a Freestanding Enclosure’ categories. The winning pools are shown on the right.

Another class winner in 2004 was Aquarius Pools & Leisure of Wellington in Somerset, which won top prize in the ‘Residential Outdoor Concrete Pools up to £30,000’ category and also a Certificate of Merit for a residential pool in a freestanding enclosure. “It was a particularly nice pool to build, and the clients were also fantastic people,” said proprietor Paul Evans. They also recieved another Certificate of Merit for a liner pool up to £25,000.

Yet another class winner was the Lifestyle Group of Hardingstone in Northamptonshire, which won the ‘Residential Outdoor Concrete Pools over £30,000’ category with this integrated pool and spa featuring a dolphin motif in the mosaic tiling.

Newson Swimming Pools recieved a Certificate of Merit for a Leisure Centre Project, whilst Tanby Pools recieved a Certificate of Merit for a concrete pool in the £30,000 and over category.

Certificate of Merits were also achieved by Cresta Leisure for a concrete pool over £30,000 and also for a liner pool up to £25,000.


The 2003 awards saw Lifestyle Group of Hardingstone in Northamptonshire win the award in the ‘Residential Indoor Concrete Pools over £65,000 and under £100,000’ category, with this stunning modern deck-level pool featuring an integrated spa.

Meanwhile, Aquabuild’s Paul Kite was delighted to win the award for ‘Young Pool Star of the Year’.


In 2002, Aquabuild Ltd of South Godstone in Surrey won the award for the ‘Best Residential Indoor Pool over £100,000’ with this stunning constant-depth pool built into a bank in front of the client’s house. The project was complemented by a wall mural featuring a luxury yacht and sea views to create a feeling of distance.

Aquarius Pools received a Bronze award for a liner pool project.