Dear Colleagues,
A few months have passed since the last newsletter. After the efforts of preparing for the congress, we all had to concentrate on our companies again and make up for the pent-up work.
The current corona crisis gives us incentive to clean up our minds and possibly rethink.
In any case, we will have to adapt to new situations, and information and exchange will help.
WHATSAPP – Natur Pool Building Group
Due to the work and movement restrictions related to the Corona virus and the resulting uncertainties, Andreas Holubar had founded a Whatsapp group for natural pool builders. Andreas is the owner of the Austrian Aquatic Association, a wholesaler and concept provider for swimming ponds and natural pools.
The aim was to find a direct information and discussion channel for the industry so that everyone can adapt to the changes caused by the virus as quickly and as quickly as possible. The majority of the participants are Austrians but there are also South Tyroleans and Germans, up to participants from Spain and the USA. The group is open and anyone interested in joining the Whatsapp group can contact Andreas Holubar directly (Tel: 0043 664 4456678).
After Italy, Austria started very quickly with strict exit restrictions. At the beginning the confusion was big because suddenly everything was forbidden but there were many questions and exceptions … and nobody knew! New information appeared every hour, which was often collected shortly afterwards, different authorities gave different updates.
It was interesting to see that there were initially two groups. Some believed that it was imperative to continue working as much as possible to keep the business running, while the other group believed that it was irresponsible to work in this situation and spread the virus. The second opinion quickly prevailed.
What Austria went through was repeated with a little delay in Germany, Spain, France later in the United States and is continually spread across the rest of the world.
Austria is now one of the first to introduce easing earlier than many expected. Horticulture can get started again … and we will see which exit scenarios prove their worth in Austria or whether setbacks occur. Maybe we will be better prepared for others when the time comes.
Enclosed is the country’s longed-for report from the 10th International Swimming Pond Congress last year in Warsaw by Claudia Schwarzer from Portugal and from the Warsaw tour the day after.
The congress lectures can be downloaded from the IOB-congress website.
Please go to the menu item (above) Congress on our website, on the congress page please go to “Program and lectures – Downloads – program and lectures”. Please open the lecture you want to download. Under the heading you will find links with which you can download the short version or the presentation as a PDF.
International Congress 2019 by Claudia Schwarzer
10th Edition took place in Warsaw, Poland
The Arche Krakowska congress hotel in Warsaw is a super modern hotel, with all the facilities for hosting an international event. Thus, everything was gathered under the same roof, the overnight stays of the conference members, the congress program, the exhibition, the breaks, meals and some socieable parts as well.
The program was very interesting, and the audience had a great time during these two days. There was a high participation in the discussions, whether in presentations or workshops. This high share is possibly due to the fact that the group of conference members this time was smaller than in previous events, which simply allowed more dialogue.
The rally to the International Congress
The onliest rally to the congress was an event not to be missed! We left Hamburg towards Berlin with a bus early in the morning, visiting 3 biological swimming pools for public use in 3 different German provinces. So, it was a great day that we spent very excited and in good company with colleagues from all over the world. There were very different installations to see, one swimming pond with some age and with a very naturalized design in Bardowick. The second pool with biological treatment, in a minimalist and modern design, respected the financial conditions of a parish in a low populated area. The third natural pool was a conversion of a conventional swimming pool, built before the breakdown of the wall, in which the maximum of the pre-existences was kept in order not to keep the project less expensive. Thus, they were not comparable between them, but it was very interesting to see what the designers’ possibilities were of acting under different conditions and circumstances during the planning process.
Younger rally participants could not stop experimenting the visited swimming ponds, in role of pool tester, even when the natural pools were already out of season at this time. Since they have already tried a large number of biological pools in southern Europe, they were interested in adding a few more to their collection.
The next day we visited even more public spaces with water in the city of Berlin, some of them built, some natural that allow us to make a boat trip to the old town, in former times the old border between the two parts of the city, once separated by a wall. The third day we spent together on the train to Warsaw, working in groups on common issues.
Claudia Schwarzer
ROUNDTRIP WARSAW 9.9.2019
After the congress, the Polish Association PSNWK organized a tour of interesting water projects in and around Warsaw. Unfortunately, the time was decided late and we did not publish it sufficiently well so that many had already booked their return flight and could no longer participate. Nevertheless, a group of 21 participants from 9 nations came together.
The first stop was at the water research center of the University of Landscaping.
Stop 2
Second stop of our round trip was a wonderful urban project with green roofs feeding a lake with biological filtration and additional rain water retention tanks and infiltration areas. Planner: Marcin Gasiorowki, President PSNWK and Michal Kaczmarczyk, both Landscape architects.
Stop 2
3rd stop: a private swimming pond in a stately home. Planned by Marcin and built 12 years ago.
The 4th stop of our round trip was at a garden center specialized in English garden design. The Polish Association build this showcase during a 3-days workshop to be able to send potential customers to have a look how a swimming pond could look like and to teach their members how to build correctly.
The 5th and last stop was a landscape pond at a place where a old ( about 200 years ) groundwater connected lake already existed. For falling ground water level and accumulation of mud it started to dry out. Therefore it was cleaned out, sealed with liner, protected by a layer of pebbles laid in mortar and equipped with a easy-to-maintain biological filter system and vast areas for macrophytes. Planned by Marcin Gasiorowski and realized and maintained by Wojtek Walczak.
Many thanks to the Polish Association for this wonderful round trip!