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SPN DEC 2010 Pool&SpaIndustry
www.swimmingpoolnews.co.uk
MEMBERSHIP NUMBERS ONE OF KEY CHALLENGES FOR BISHTA
BISHTA achieved a lot in 2010 but still faces four key challenges in the coming 12 months said hot tub association Managing Director Chris Hayes. He told the annual meeting that the successes included the revision of the BISHTA Standards and while more appendices were required to provide advice and guidance, there was a challenge to get it read and followed by our members and then more of the industry.
The association’s website had been much improved he said thanks to the work of Alex Kelmsley. Recent changes allowed a better overview of where members are in the UK; there was greater interactivity for visitors to get more information about members from the site and there was a growing list of documents being posted in the members’ area.
He said the quality of the BISHTA literature had been improved with better consumer factsheets and advice leaflets plus the work on the Marketing Toolkits for members.
Along with the successes, he told the BISHTA meeting that there were some important challenges ahead. He listed them as:
1. Increasing membership numbers He stressed it was important to get BISHTA membership to be representative of the whole hot tub industry. There were 109 members in BISHTA in 2010 and he said it was important to attract new faces and voices into the membership. One
key theme was stressing that BISHTA now offers more value for money for membership.
2. Workforce development
BISHTA was, said Chris Hayes, looking to develop a specific spa technician’s qualification as part of its workforce development programme.
3. Unscrupulous trading
It was essential, he said, for BISHTA to have a robust Code of Ethics and very clear warranties being offered to consumers when the BISHTA logo was being displayed. Recent high profile media coverage of alleged problems in the hot tub sales market has highlighted the need for BISHTA to be keen to bring dubious practices from non members to the public’s attention and to challenge poor practice from any members.
4. CE Certification
CE marking is a declaration by manufacturers that their product meets all the appropriate provisions of the relevant legislation implementing certain European Directives and the hot tub industry is keen to work to full CE classification on the whole product not just on components.
SPATA SEMINARS
Two SPATA seminars are being held later this month. Said Chris Hayes: “These not only provide members with valuable information, but also an opportunity to meet up and to make new contacts.”
The dates are Tuesday 23 November at Loughborough University and Tuesday 30 November at University of Surrey, Guildford.
SPATA SHIELD SCHEME AND NEW LEGISLATION OFFER CHALLENGES TO SPATA
2011 offered two significant tasks for the SPATA trade association, said its Managing Director Chris Hayes.
When he spoke to members at the annual meeting in Andover he stressed that getting the best of the Spata Shield bond and warranty insurance scheme and staying in touch with an important year for changes in legislation were two ‘important challenges.’ On Spata Shield, he said there had been a better response to the need to provide paperwork for customers using the warranty scheme. He urged members to make sure that the three step process on Spata Shield paperwork was used diligently when the insurance scheme was in operation. It was important to give out the ‘Relax leaflet’ given out on initial contact; the Bond certificate at contract signature and finally the warranty certificate at practical completion.
He said that there were risks to SPATA’s reputation if the scheme wasn’t administered correctly through the proper processes. The amount of new legislation being introduced
which affected the industry was significant he said. It included legislation changes to: • Building Regulations • Water Conservation • European norms for liners • European norms for legionella control • European norms for domestic pools
“It is essential we have full information and support for the members as this legislation goes through as the implications will no doubt be significant. SPATA has been involved in a number of discussions about changes in legislation and has been keeping members informed about Building Regulations Part L and Part F and will be highlighting the changes to commercial pools brought about by standards such as BS EN 15288 on the Design and Operation of Swimming Pools. There has been the first meeting at a European level to discuss norms for domestic pools and spas and these discussions will be continued for the next three years.”
He outlined SPATA successes during the year which included the production of the new SPATA
Standards – produced in time for the summer – with better layout and improved indexing. He also highlighted:
• The PIP Marketing Toolkit which was an important development where 15 factsheets are being produced on a range of topics to assist members.
• The SPATA News weekly e newsletter which was started in Jan 2009 now provides regular communication for members.
• Improvements to the SPATA website which had introduced greater interactivity for visitors to get more information from the site, carried improved hyper links to member’s sites and generally gave more information for members.
On SPATA’s finances he said the current year end showed a surplus of £3,473, but the proposed deficit this coming year was £7,000. The Spata Shield fees he added were not covering the Spata Shield premiums. “We need to find ways of generating new income streams,” he told the meeting.
SPATA AWARDS ‘NEED TO GROW’
SPATA needs to develop its annual industry awards at SPATEX in a bid to strengthen the publicity and PR they generate for the industry. Chris Hayes, SPATA Managing Director said: “The big challenge is to get more companies to enter the awards, so that they can strengthen the competition and benefit from the publicity if they win an award.”
The event will again be held at the Hilton Brighton Metropole Hotel and will be a joint affair with BISHTA.
He added: “These awards recognise the contribution of SPATA members and provide valuable promotional material for the industry. They provide an invaluable platform for the promotion of SPATA companies and also for pool ownership generally.”
The 2010 awards attracted 90 entries in 24 award categories from 20 companies.
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