2 INDUSTRY NEWS


Global Gold Anchor program for USA L


ast November, the Marine Recreation Association (MRA) in America and the Brisbane-based Marina


Industries Association (MIA) of Australia entered into a collaborative agreement to launch the Global Gold Anchor program in the USA. Two West Coast marinas were accredited leading up to the agreement and training of West Coast Assessors for the program has now begun, with marina assessments to follow soon despite set-backs due to Covid-19. Gold Anchor Awards were first


developed by The Yacht Harbour Association (TYHA) of the United Kingdom in 1988. In 2009, the MIA launched its own program and in 2013, the two associations launched a single Global Gold Anchor program. This is analogous with star ratings for


A Gold Anchor Award was presented to staff of Safe Harbor Cabrillo Isle, San Diego, California, by Colin Bransgrove (right), CEO of the Marina Industries Association, at the annual MRA Conference in 2019.


accommodation, with a strong focus on customer service. The program is well-established in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Australia and the Caribbean. MIA President Andrew Chapman said the delay in implementing the


agreement has been frustrating, but the strong will of both parties has resulted in its re-activation. “Gold Anchor accreditation is an excellent business improvement program, as well as providing marketing and product differentiation benefits.


Swedish hotel floats on SF Marina pontoons


When most people consider a building’s foundation, they think of reinforced concrete and with Slottsholmen (www.slottsholmen. com), a two-story, 33-room hotel in the picturesque town of Västervik, Sweden, they wouldn’t be wrong. Except, instead of being set into bedrock, this structure is actually floating on a custom-engineered pontoon platform from SF Marina. The owners of Slottsholme – among whom are Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA – chose Swedish architects Sandell Sandberg to design the floating hotel. Knowing that the structure would need a solid foundation that provided unprecedented stability and reliability, contractor 2A Entreprenad enlisted SF Marina to deliver the concrete pontoon as the building’s foundation. Measuring 22 m wide x 63 m long,


the floating platform consists of eight SF Marina SF1880 22 metre pontoons. Custom reinforcements accommodate the pressure points produced by the building’s mass. Each pontoon has an expanded


MARINA INDUSTRY • OCTOBER 2020


The MIA is very pleased that MRA appreciate the value of Gold Anchor and we are totally committed to working with the MRA team as it is rolled out across North America.” MRA President Scott Robertson


agreed there is pent-up demand for the program and commented, “We have both coastal and inland marinas wishing to participate. MRA recognise the many industry development and promotional benefits the Gold Anchor program can deliver for our industry”. Four senior West Coast marina


personnel are being trained to conduct Gold Anchor assessments. During the first two years of the MRA Gold Anchor roll-out, each assessment will also be checked by Gold Anchor foundation partners the MIA and TYHA to ensure global consistency with the implementation of the standard.


polystyrene (EPS) foam core providing remarkable buoyancy; they are also virtually unsinkable, even when holed. Practically maintenance-free, embedded conduits provide room for utility services to be installed. The Slottsholmen platform was


built at SF Marina’s Wallhamn, Sweden, location and transported by ship to an assembly site. After the hotel was built on top of it and


once a window in the weather had opened up, the completed structure was towed to its final location and moored. The entire process, from order to assembly, took less than a year. “After Salt & Sill in Bohuslän,


Sweden, Slottsholmen is our second floating hotel,” said Michael Sigvardsson, CEO of SF Marina. “With a low profile and minimal interference from water flow, the


SF Marina concrete pontoons provide a solid, stable platform for this exceptionally distinctive hotel. We’re very proud to be part of such a unique project.” Slottsholmen floating hotel is striving to be a landmark for sustainability. Its spa is inspired by ancient Roman bath rituals and is geothermally-heated, with the water it uses coming from its own desalination plant.


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