Sustainable Cities and Society 31 (2017) 51–61

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Sustainable Cities and Society

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Defining aquatic centres for energy and water benchmarking purposes

Jean Jonathan Duverge a,∗ , Priyadarsini Rajagopalan a , Robert Fuller b
a
School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
b
School of Architecture and Built Environment, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Aquatic centres are major community facilities that require a large amount of water and energy to operate.
Received 27 November 2015 Aquatic centres are very complex buildings which have made it difficult to obtain clear and verifiable
Received in revised form 11 August 2016 indicators to measure and compare their energy and water consumptions. This paper clarifies and defines
Accepted 15 February 2017
what constitutes an aquatic centre by investigating those operating within Victoria, Australia using the
Available online 24 February 2017
Internet. Information from 110 aquatic centres was collected and used to establish various categories
of aquatic centre based on the types and number of amenities that they provide. This study defined an
Keywords:
aquatic centre as a community or public venue that provides at least an indoor swimming pool and
Indoor swimming pool
Energy and water benchmarks
three different types of amenities (e.g. gymnasium, sauna/spa, café and crèche). This paper also discusses
Energy efficiency how the lack of clear definition of aquatic centres can create confusion when researching and comparing
Benchmark guidelines for aquatic centre their energy and water usages. This is achieved by reviewing academic and industry literature and also
Energy use comparing existing energy and water benchmarks of aquatic centres. This investigation also confirmed
Water use that there are no universal guidelines for benchmarking aquatic centres. Therefore, guidelines for defining
Aquatic centres aquatic centres and also for benchmarking energy and water use of aquatic centres are proposed.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction (IEA), 2014). A study done in 2006 by United Nations Environment

Many countries around the world are now in agreement that
climate change is one of the greatest threats facing the planet
(European Union, 2015). Climate change and global warming refer
to an increase in average global temperatures caused primarily
by increases in “greenhouse” gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2 )
(Shah, 2015). Global greenhouse gas emissions are primarily caused
by human activities through burning of coal, oil, and natural gas
to generate energy for power, heat, industry and transportation
and large cuts in emissions will be required to reduce the worst
consequences of climate change (Hansen, Sato, & Ruedy, 2012).
Some ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions include devel-
oping new technologies to achieve greater energy efficiency and
retrofitting buildings (Hansen et al., 2012). Energy efficiency has
the unique potential to simultaneously contribute to long-term
energy security, economic growth, and improved health and well-
being of building occupants and in particular it is a key means
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (International Energy Agency
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: jeanjonathan.duverge@rmit.edu.au, jd@nedesign.net.au
(J.J. Duverge).
Programme (UNEP) and World Bank estimates that China and India
could cut current energy consumption in the building sector by 25
percent, by using high-efficiency lighting, efficient air conditioners,
boilers and the waste heat recovery systems technologies that are
widely available today (UNEP, 2006).
Greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector have more
than doubled since 1970 to reach 9.18 GtCO2e in 2010 (Lucon
et al., 2014) and the building sector contributes up to 30% of global
annual greenhouse gas emissions (UNEP, 2009). The building sec-
tor alone consumed approximately 32% of the total global final
energy which makes the building sector one of the largest end-use
sectors worldwide (IEA, 2013) and this sector is constantly increas-
ing. For example, more than half of the world’s new buildings are
constructed in Asia every year. China alone has 40 billion square
metres in existing buildings and adds an additional two billion
square metres of floor area each year, almost half the global total
and in India, the construction of new buildings more than doubled
between 2000 and 2005 (Asia Business Council (ABC), 2008). Given
the inefficiencies of existing and old buildings worldwide and the
growth in construction of new buildings to accommodate the rise
in population, greenhouse gas emissions will continue to rise sig-
nificantly if no action is taken (International Energy Agency (IEA),
2014).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2017.02.008
2210-6707/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
52 J.J. Duverge et al. / Sustainable Cities and Society 31 (2017) 51–61
In 2014, European Union (EU) leaders agreed on a new pol-
icy framework for climate and energy (2030 Climate and Energy
Framework) which aims at a reduction target of the domestic
greenhouse gas emissions of at least 40% by 2030 compared to 1990
(European Commission, 2015). The European Commission pro-
posed a 30% energy savings target for 2030 and this was based on
past achievements reached which showed that new buildings now
use half the energy they did in the 1980s (European Commission,
2015). The 2010 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and the
2012 Energy Efficiency Directive were legislated by the EU to pro-
vide clear directions to reduce the energy consumption of buildings
(European Commission, 2015). One of the Energy Performance of
Buildings Directives is that EU countries must set minimum energy
performance requirements for new buildings, for the major reno-
vation of buildings and for the replacement or retrofit of building
elements (heating and cooling systems, roofs, walls, etc.) (European
Commission, 2015). Based on European Union directives to reduce
building energy use consumption, sports buildings with swimming
pools are seen as potential targets for energy efficiency projects
because of their high energy consumption (Step2Sport, 2015). A
reduction of 10% in energy consumption of aquatic centres can
avoid the production of at least 3.5 million tonnes of carbon diox-
ide emissions in Australia (Rajagopalan, 2014). Aquatic centres
and indoor swimming pools are complex buildings with unique
conditions such as specific ventilation requirements, high humid-
ity levels, water evaporation and pool water heating, usually not
encountered by other building types. The complex nature of aquatic
centres/indoor swimming pools have made it difficult to obtain
clear and verifiable indicators with which to measure and com-
pare energy and water consumption, leading to lack of research
and standards on this particular type of buildings compared to
other building types (retail, office, residential, educational etc.). At
present, there are no general Australian energy and water perfor-
mance standards for public swimming pools, for buildings housing
public pools or parts of buildings housing public pools (Wilkenfeld,
2009). Reliable performance requirements and indicators are one
of the main “building blocks” for a successful greenhouse gas mit-
igation and energy efficiency strategy for buildings (UNEP, 2009).
Another issue is the lack of clarity regarding the definition of an
aquatic centre and the types of amenities that are provided. In order
to measure the performance of an aquatic centre, there is the need
to clearly define what exactly is being measured.
This paper has three objectives. The first objective is to clar-
ify the definition of an aquatic centre based on what amenities are
included (Section 2). This will enable researchers to select and clas-
sify aquatic centres, not only for energy and water benchmarking
purposes but also for other research related to aquatic centres. The
second objective of this paper is to show how the lack of clear defi-
nition of aquatic centres can create confusion and difficulties when
researching and comparing their energy and water usages (Section
5). This will be achieved by reviewing academic and industry liter-
ature and also comparing existing energy and water benchmarks
of aquatic centres. The third objective is to create a guideline to
facilitate the identification of aquatic centres (Section 6).
2. What is an aquatic centre?
A major issue around the aquatic and recreation industry sector
is that there is not enough clarity regarding the definition of aquatic
centres and the types of amenities that are provided, as noted by
Tower et al. (2014). The authors also acknowledged that it was dif-
ficult to suggest a single term that accurately describes all aquatic
and recreation facilities. There have been many inconsistencies in
naming buildings with swimming facilities nationally and interna-
tionally. Many different terms and names have been used in past
studies to describe aquatic centres such as: aquatic leisure centres
(Sydney Water Corporation, 2011), public pools (Wilkenfeld, 2009),
public aquatic and recreational centres (Howat, 2013), aquatic and
recreational centres (Tower, McDonald, & Steward, 2014), aquatic
facilities (Rajagopalan, 2014), indoor swimming pools and leisure
centres (Hancock & Chem, 2011), public swimming bath (Saari &
Sekki, 2008), natatoriums (Swimming, 2010; Xie & Cooper, 2006),
recreational facilities (Mozes, 2006; Good, Debruyn, & Whitehead,
2007), sport facilities (Trianti-Stourna et al., 1998; Costa, Garay,
Messervey, & Keane, 2011), sport complexes (Step2Sport, 2015)
and leisure pool facilities (Kampel, Aas, & Bruland, 2014).
There is also inconsistency within the Australian Bureau of
Statistics (ABS) regarding the collection of data about the sport and
recreation industry. Tower et al. (2014) highlighted that in recent
years there have been three changes in the statistical classification
of facilities that would include aquatic and recreational centres.
Aquatic centres were included under health fitness centres and
gyms in 2010 (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2014), then
changed to structured facilities such as gyms, public pools or courts
in 2011 (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2011). In 2013, the
ABS included public swimming pools as outdoor sports facilities
(Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2013). Therefore, based on
the 2013 ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2013) classi-
fication, an aquatic centre with indoor swimming pools facilities
might be classified as an outdoor sports facility which is confusing
as they can also include indoor facilities.
In addition, several past studies have not clearly stated what
amenities are included. As an example, Tower et al. (2014) stated
that an aquatic and recreational centre is defined as a commu-
nity venue that provides a pool with fitness and active recreation
facilities. However, the authors did not clarify whether it includes
an indoor or an outdoor pool. Kampel et al. (2014) stated that
leisure pool facilities often include several pools, a diving platform,
different water attractions and relaxation areas like a restaurant,
spa or sauna. However, when they performed their analysis, they
categorised the leisure pool facilities based on the number of
pools and water attractions. There was no inclusion of any dry
areas (e.g. restaurant, sport hall) within any of the categories. Fur-
thermore, in Sydney Water Corporation’s Best Practice Guidelines
for Water Management in Aquatic Leisure Centres, there is no
definition of what constitutes an aquatic leisure centre (Sydney
Water Corporation, 2011). The reports on Operational Management
Benchmarks for Australian Public Sport, Leisure & Aquatic Centres
prepared by Centre for Environmental and Recreation Management
Performance Indicators (CERM PI) in 2013 and 2014 also do not
indicate what amenities are included in the aquatic centres (CERM
PI, 2013; CERM PI, 2014).
In order to clarify and define what constitutes an aquatic cen-
tre, those operating within Victoria, Australia were investigated. As
stated previously, aquatic centres are expected to include swim-
ming pool facilities and they are available to the general public.
It was assumed that the majority of aquatic centres use Internet
websites to advertise their services and amenities offered. Based
on this assumption, the Internet was used to search aquatic centres
within Victoria. The Australia Swimming Clubs website (Australian
Swimming Clubs, 2015) and YMCA Australia website (YMCA, 2015)
were the main internet websites used to identify all the aquatic cen-
tres within Victoria. Once identified, each aquatic centre’s website
was thoroughly investigated to determine what types of ameni-
ties were included. Data was collected from approximately 110
aquatic centres and used to categorise aquatic centres based on
the amenities they provided.
According to the data collected, aquatic centres can include
indoor and outdoor recreational pools, lap swimming pools, diving
pools, hydrotherapy pools, family and toddler pools, gymnasiums,
fitness centres, saunas and spas, stadiums, childcare facilities and
 J.J. Duverge et al. / Sustainable Cities and Society 31 (2017) 51–61
cafés. Offices and reception areas were omitted from the facilities
as it is assumed all centres are expected to contain at least a small
office and a reception area. Fig. 1 shows the percentages of the main
groups of aquatic centres, based on their amenities. Hence, for the
purpose of this study, an aquatic centre will be defined based on the
first three largest categories in Fig. 1 which together make up 78%
of the aquatic centres located within Victoria. An aquatic centre is
defined as a community or public venue that provides at least an
indoor pool and three different types of other amenities (e.g. gym-
nasium, sauna/spa, café, crèche, indoor stadium). They can include
several pools including outdoor pools with the stipulation that one
of them is an indoor swimming pool.
This definition can be readily applied to similar building types
worldwide as the majority of the centres known under different
names as listed above include similar amenities. As discussed pre-
viously, Kampel et al. stated that leisure pool facilities can include
a pool, a diving platform, different water attractions and relax-
ation areas like a restaurant, spa or sauna (Kampel et al., 2014).
Step2Sport refers to these buildings as sports complexes which
constitute of indoor swimming pools, gymnasiums and sports halls
(Step2Sport, 2015). Good et al. (2007) described a recreational facil-
ity as a building that can include lap, leisure, outdoor and whirl
pools with a gymnasium, a fitness studio, an ice arena, offices
and a library (Good et al., 2007). According to Costa et al. (2011)
and Trianti-Stourna et al. (1998) sport facilities can include sev-
eral types of pools with offices, restaurant, shops, training areas
and other smaller amenities like saunas, spa (Trianti-Stourna et al.,
1998; Costa et al., 2011). In addition, swimming baths described by
Saari and Sekki include a main pool area with several amenities like
gymnasiums, meeting rooms, cafeteria and saunas (Saari & Sekki,
2008).
The research revealed that the number of aquatic centres iden-
tified in Victoria is different to the number of aquatic centres
provided by several organisations and previous studies. ARV stated
Victoria has in excess of 500 aquatic facilities with 277 (55%)
belonging to local government (Aquatics Recreation Victoria (ARV),
2014). The remaining 233 (45%) include private swim schools and
educational institutions. However, it is unclear what aquatic facil-
ities means. For example, are outdoor swimming pool facilities
included in their numbers? During this investigation, the number of
aquatic centres identified were different to the number of aquatic
centres listed by ARV. This discrepancy is possibly related to the
lack of clarity in defining an aquatic centre. Having identified what
an aquatic centre means or consists of, this study will provide a bet-
ter understanding about the importance of a clear definition when
comparing aquatic centres’ studies for benchmarking purposes.
3. Aquatic centres and the associated industry
The aquatic and recreational industry is a large industry world-
wide. In Europe, there are around one and half million sports
facilities including swimming pools, which represent 8% of the
overall building stock (Step2Sport, 2015). In 2014, a project called
Step2Sport was introduced by several European countries to sup-
port the refurbishment of existing sport buildings contributing to
the EU energy objectives (Step2Sport, 2015). This project focuses on
two types of sporting facilities: indoor swimming pools and indoor
sport facilities (e.g. multi-function sports centres, community cen-
tres and gymnasiums). The Step2Sport project aims to have a long
term impact and contribution to the European strategic goals by
contributing more than 20% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2020.
As stated previously, Europe has a large number of sports centres
with swimming pool facilities. Norway has around 850 swimming
pools ranging from small school swimming pools to various ameni-
ties for therapeutic use, sports and leisure, owned and operated by
53
municipalities (Kampel, Aas, & Bruland, 2013). There are around
1468 swimming pools in Belgium, 189 in Denmark, 750 in France,
3168 in Germany, 29 in Greece, 89 in Ireland, 1489 in Italy, 300 in
the Netherlands, 116 in Portugal, 1025 in Spain and 2390 in the
United Kingdom (Trianti-Stourna et al., 1998).
In the United States of America, swimming was the fourth most
popular recreational activity in 2009 (Census, 2009). There were
approximately 301 million visits to swimming pools each year
by persons over the age of six, with 36% of children aged 7–17
years and 15% of adults swimming at least six times per year
(Census, 2009). There are 10.4 million residential and 309,000 pub-
lic swimming pools in the United States according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), 2015). An article about the overcrowding in
swimming pools in China noted that there are well over 6000 swim-
ming pools facilities registered by China’s Health Ministry Report
(Amusing Planet, 2015). Information on aquatic centres and swim-
ming pools in many countries, especially developing countries are
difficult to obtain or do not exist.
The aquatic and recreational industry in Australia is also signif-
icant. This industry has over one quarter of a billion visitors per
year and employs over 86,000 staff all over Australia (Australian
Water Safety Council, 2007). These figures identify the aquatics
and recreation industry as a significant part of the broader Aus-
tralian economy. According to Aquatics and Recreation Victoria
(ARV) (Aquatics Recreation Victoria (ARV), 2014), there are around
1900 aquatic centres in Australia of which 500 aquatic facilities
are located in Victoria. According to Australian Swimming Clubs
(Australian Swimming Clubs, 2015), there are 217 aquatic facilities
in New South Wales and in the Sydney region alone there are 84
council-owned aquatic centres and 57 public swimming pools in
clubs (Sydney Water Corporation, 2011). There are approximately
120 aquatic centres in Western Australia, 82 registered aquatic cen-
tres in Queensland, 17 in South Australia, nine in the Australian
Capital Territory, nine in Tasmania and three in Northern Territory
(Australian Swimming Clubs, 2015).
The above has identified the aquatic and recreational industry
as a big industry. There are over 100,000 swimming pools facilities
around the world. Focussing on energy and water performance of
aquatic centres can provide benefits, not only in energy and water
conservation, but also contribute towards greenhouse gas reduc-
tion worldwide. The size of this industry have been identified above
to show the relevance of this study not only to Australia but also
worldwide. With the definition provided in Section 2, it should be
easier to distinguish between an aquatic centre and a small indoor
swimming pool within a school as an example. The majority of
countries listed above have classified all the swimming pool facil-
ities within the same category regardless of their size and it does
not seem logical to compare an aquatic centre with a small indoor
swimming pool.
4. Factors affecting energy and water use of aquatic centres
Aquatic centres are unlike any other type of buildings. They are
usually large spaces where high temperatures need to be main-
tained and a high volume of air needs to be ventilated to regulate
evaporation within the swimming pool hall. According to the Car-
bon Trust, there are a number of ways that an aquatic centre uses
energy which is not typical to other building types (Carbon Trust,
2008):
• High pool hall air temperatures are required (28–30 ◦ C) to main-
tain the comfort of pool users and reduce the risk of condensation
from humid air, heating large amounts of water which should be
54 J.J. Duverge et al. / Sustainable Cities and Society 31 (2017) 51–61
maintained at 1–2 ◦ C below pool air temperature to limit evapo-
ration from the pool surface.
• High extraction/ventilation levels are required. Typically, an air
change per hour of around 4–10 is required to remove excess
humidity from pool evaporation. High ventilation rates require
high levels of fresh make-up air to replace extracted air and all
incoming fresh air is usually heated.
• Continual pumping of pool water through filters
One study has found that the energy consumption of swimming
pool facilities is made up of 45 per cent for ventilation (including
heating and cooling), 33 per cent for pool water heating, 10 per cent
for heating and ventilation of the remainder of the building, 9 per
cent electricity for power equipment and lighting and 3 per cent
for hot water services (Trianti-Stourna et al., 1998).
4.1. Factors affecting the energy use of aquatic centres
One of the most important and energy-intensive equipment in
an aquatic centre/swimming pool hall is the Heating Ventilation
and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system. Designing an HVAC system
for an aquatic centre/swimming pool hall is difficult and complex
because compared to other building types, evaporation and humid-
ity are important factors that need to be considered. As mentioned
in the Good Practice Guide, maintaining the appropriate levels
of temperature, humidity and air quality within the pool hall for
bathers, spectators and staff is a very complex task for designers
and operators (Good Practice Guide, 1997). The control of evapo-
ration from water is a phenomenon not normally encountered by
standard HVAC systems and can therefore be misunderstood by
designers and operators (Carbon Trust, 2008)
The main aims of an HVAC system in an aquatic centre are:
• controlling the swimming pool air temperature (heating and
cooling), humidity and air quality in order to minimise evapo-
ration from the pool water to prevent condensation (excessive
condensation can cause corrosion damage)
• maintaining comfortable environmental conditions for occu-
pants.
• removing chlorine and other contaminants from the air.
Based on the Good Practice Guide, the HVAC system should
maintain the pool hall air temperature at 27–30 ◦ C and relative
humidity at 50–70 percent (Good Practice Guide, 1997). American
Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers
(ASHRAE) suggests an air temperature of 24–29 ◦ C for public, school
and competition pools and a relative humidity of 50–60 percent
(ASHRAE Handbook, 2007). Ventilation of an aquatic centre, espe-
cially the swimming pool hall needs more consideration compared
to other building types due to evaporation and other air pollu-
tants/odour like chlorine. The chemicals used for swimming pools
have a negative effect on the indoor air quality when they off-gas
from the pool water and often cause eye irritation or even asthma.
Therefore, when designing a ventilation system for a swimming
pool hall, a significant amount of outdoor air will be required in
order to control any potential odour problems. An effective, well-
distributed and mechanically controlled supply and extraction is
required to maintain appropriate conditions in an aquatic centre.
Pool water heating also consumes a large amount of energy.
Pool heating of a typical aquatic centre according to Sydney Water
Corporation, can account for around 64 percent of the total energy
use of an aquatic centre (Sydney Water Corporation, 2011). The
pool water temperature has to be within 26–28 ◦ C which is about
1–2 ◦ C below pool air temperature in order to maintain the com-
fort of pool users and also to reduce the risk of condensation from
humid air due to evaporation from the pool surface. The tempera-
ture to which the pool water has to be heated, cannot be reduced
because lower temperatures would be uncomfortable for users and
also water temperatures in public swimming pool have to be in
line with guidelines and regulations. Other than using an energy
efficient water heating system, the only way to save energy from
pool water heating is to reduce the rate at which heat is lost though
evaporation (Isaac, Hayes, & Akers, 2010) by using for example pool
blankets during closing time. Although pool water temperature
is controlled automatically, temperature sensors require frequent
checking as a 0.5 ◦ C rise will result in a substantial waste of energy.
Indoor swimming pools have very high evaporation rates and
extreme humidity-control issues that must be considered during
the early design stage both architecturally and mechanically to
provide good thermal comfort and protect structural integrity. If
humidity is not controlled in an indoor swimming pool hall, pool
water will evaporate and the space dew point will rise high enough
for condensation to occur which can be catastrophic for the build-
ing envelope (West, 2005). Pool evaporation is a major cause of
heat loss. The energy in the water vapour is lost from the build-
ing through ventilation and this form of energy loss significantly
exceeds building heat losses through conduction (building enve-
lope) and ventilation (Hancock & Chem, 2011). Water evaporation
from an indoor swimming pool is a major consideration in the
design of heating, cooling, ventilation, air-conditioning (HVAC) sys-
tems and for water heating plants for indoor swimming pools.
Asrubali highlighted that in fact, one of the highest heat load is due
to water evaporation, which therefore represents a main source of
energy consumption of the entire plant (Asdrubali, 2009). His work
showed that the thermal load due to water evaporation could be
around 30% of the overall heat load for an indoor facility of two
pools and 42% was due to ventilation (depending also from water
evaporation) (Asdrubali, 2009). In addition, accurate calculation of
evaporation from swimming pools is needed to ensure accurate
estimation of energy consumption as well as sizing of HVAC (Shah,
2012a). Nevertheless, underestimation of water evaporation for an
indoor swimming pool can lead to the selection of an undersized
HVAC system causing excessive humidity which can cause discom-
fort for users and damage to the building envelope from fungus and
rot. While overestimation can result in the selection of an oversized
HVAC system with excessive energy consumption, high cost and
operating problems due to excess cycling (Shah, 2012b).
4.2. Factors affecting the water use of aquatic centres
Aquatic centres require huge amounts of water to operate.
Council-owned aquatic centres in Sydney use around 1000 M L of
water each year (Sydney Water Corporation, 2011). Understanding
the link between energy performance and water consumption in
aquatic centres is of high importance. Any change in one of these
two will directly impact on the other. For example, an increase in
water consumption will be related to an increase in energy con-
sumption as more energy will have to be used to heat up the
make-up water to the required temperature. The average water
use breakdown of aquatic centres in Sydney was found to be 36
percent of water use in pool make-up which includes backwash,
22 percent for leaks, 20 percent for showers and the remaining to
toilets, basins and other (Sydney Water Corporation, 2011). Pool-
make up water also includes water loss from evaporation. An indoor
25 m pool with eight lanes can lose around 550 kL of water each
year through evaporation (Sydney Water Corporation, 2011). Isaac
et al.’s investigation into the water and energy use at the Wales
National Pool showed that the water use breakdown was 47 per-
cent of water use through evaporation, 23 percent for backwashing,
20 percent for showers and 10 per cent for other (Isaac et al., 2010)
Water usage of aquatic centres is related to several factors. Back-
washing is one of the main factors that consumes a high volume of
 J.J. Duverge et al. / Sustainable Cities and Society 31 (2017) 51–61
water. Filter backwashing in aquatic centres can account for up to
40 per cent of total water use (Aquatics Recreation Victoria (ARV),
2014). A 25 m swimming pool in Ireland used approximately 30 kL
per week to backwash the pool water filters (Sustainable Energy
Ireland, 2006). Filter backwashing is a vital part of pool water treat-
ment. Contaminants like organic matter, dirt, small particles and
sediments are caught in the pool filters during continuous circu-
lation of the pool water. Backwashing helps to unclog the filters
which involves reversing the flow of water through the filters and
the backwash water is usually discharged to the wastewater sys-
tem. The frequency, duration and types (volume of water used)
of backwashing will impact on the amount water consumed by
swimming pools
Pool water treatment is another important aspect of an aquatic
centre operation. During pool water treatment, there is always the
need to add fresh make-up water to maintain quality. Chlorination
is one the main treatment methods used to disinfect pool water.
Chlorination is achieved by adding sodium or calcium hypochlorite
to the water. In addition, many aquatic centres also use ultravio-
let light irradiation or ozone treatment with chlorination (Sydney
Water Corporation, 2011). There are also others factors that may
affect the water use and water quality of aquatic centres: make-up
water control which relates to water losses caused by evapora-
tion, splash and leaks (caused from pool structures, cracks or faulty
plumbing components).
5. Past studies and benchmark reviews of aquatic centres
Aquatic centres are often overlooked or not included in major
efficiency studies including that performed in 2012 on baseline
energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in commer-
cial buildings in Australia by the Department of Climate Change
and Energy Efficiency. They investigated the average energy inten-
sity of many different types of buildings including office buildings,
supermarkets, hotels, shopping centres, hospitals, schools and uni-
versities. However, they did not investigate aquatic centres or any
building containing public swimming pool facilities (Department of
Climate Change & Energy Efficiency, 2012). In addition, many exist-
ing environmental rating tools like Green Star, Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design (LEED), National Australian Built Envi-
ronment Rating System (NABERS) and Building Research Establish
Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) do not specifically
rate aquatic centres.
According to British Swimming, there is not one specific
BREEAM tool for sport and recreation buildings; however, a
bespoke assessment can be made based upon the components
which make up such a building (British Swimming, 2008). For
example, the office within the aquatic centre can be accessed under
the BREEAM office category, café or gym under the BREEAM retail
category and stadium under the BREEAM other building category.
Some of the main BREEAM credits that can be relevant to aquatic
centres are: Energy and Water. NABERS measures the energy effi-
ciency, water usage, waste management and indoor environment
quality of a building or tenancy and its impact on the environment.
It does this by using measured and verified performance infor-
mation, such as utility bills, and converting them into an easy to
understand star rating scale from one to six stars (NABERS, 2016).
NABERS rating tool assesses the following building types: offices,
shopping centres, hotels and data centres. A NABERS rating could
be obtained for the office area of the aquatic centre if the office area
was metered separately which is rarely the case. The NABERS hotel
category does allow for the energy consumed by indoor swimming
pools within its internal calculation but this category can only be
used to assess a hotel. LEED and Green Star Australia rating tools are
similar to BREEAM in relation to custom-made assessment that can
55
be made based upon the different areas of an aquatic centre. Both
LEED and Green Star Australia have similar credits (Energy, Water
and Indoor Environment Quality Environment) that can be relevant
to aquatic centres. For example, within the energy category under
the Green Star Australia rating tool, there is an energy consumption
and greenhouse emissions calculator where the energy consump-
tion arising from an indoor swimming pool obtained from hand
calculation or building energy simulation can be included. How-
ever, as stated previously, none of these frameworks specifically
assessed sport and recreational buildings with indoor swimming
pools or aquatic centres.
Aquatic centres are complex building systems and in order to
understand their energy and water use, we need to be able to
measure them accurately. Benchmarking is a method that can be
used to compare the energy and water use of aquatic centres. It
is a common method/tool used to measure, compare and promote
the efficient use of energy and water in buildings. Benchmarking
models are constructed in a simple benchmark table (percentile
table) of energy use, which is normalized with indicators such
as floor area, temperature and occupancy (Chung, Hui, & Lam,
2006). Benchmarking is the process of accounting for and compar-
ing a metered building’s current energy/water consumption with
an energy or water baseline, or comparing a metered building’s
energy/water use with the energy/water use of similar types of
buildings (Department of Energy, 2010). There are several meth-
ods of benchmarking that can be used to compare energy and
water efficiency of buildings. The most common methods are sta-
tistical regression-based benchmarking, computational/simulation
model-based benchmarking and point-based rating systems.
5.1. Review of existing energy benchmarks for aquatic centres
Benchmarking the energy/water use of an aquatic centre is a
complex exercise due to the energy and water use pattern of aquatic
centres which are different to any other type of buildings. In addi-
tion, it is difficult to find two aquatic centres that have similar
layouts (arrangement of the building). There have only been a few
research papers published in the last few years that have bench-
marked the energy performance and water use of aquatic centres.
Trianti-Stourna et al. (1998) and Kampel et al. (2013) collected data
from several aquatic centres in order to find the average energy
intensity of aquatic centres in Greece and Norway respectively.
Additionally, Kampel et al. performed an in-depth analysis of Nor-
wegian swimming facilities with data collected from 250 aquatic
facilities using questionnaires to determine how they could lower
energy consumption (Kampel et al., 2014). Several organisations
like Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE),
Carbon Trust, Step2Sport and British Swimming have also bench-
marked the energy performance of aquatic centres. In Australia,
there are insufficient studies done in order to provide a reliable
benchmark for the energy and the water use of aquatic centres.
There are only two studies undertaken in Australia; Rajagopalan’s
(Rajagopalan, 2014) study on energy benchmarking of aquatic facil-
ities in Victoria, Australia and the CERM PI’s Reports (CERM PI, 2013;
CERM PI, 2014). Table 1 summarises several energy benchmarks for
aquatic centres and indoor swimming pools from current literature.
The first three columns in Table 1 contain energy use intensi-
ties from several sources/authors ranging from low to high. The
fourth column lists what unit has been used; “ua” indicates usable
area which is often interpreted as floor area and “ws” indicates
water surface area which is the total surface area of all swimming
facilities such as lap swimming pools, diving pools, hydrotherapy
pools, family and toddler pools, wave pool. The “Comments” col-
umn identifies how swimming pools and aquatic centres have been
categorised and how the authors/organisations have defined the
building that has been benchmarked. The description or defini-
56 J.J. Duverge et al. / Sustainable Cities and Society 31 (2017) 51–61

Table 1
Energy benchmark comparison of aquatic centres.

Energy Use Intensity (kWh/m2 ) Unit Source Comments

Low Typical/Average High ua or ws

<510 510–745 >745 ua Good Practice Guide (1997) Sport centre with pool
725 1573 ua British Swimming (2008) Swimming pool building only
1375 ua CIBSE (2008) Swimming pool hall, changing and ancilliaries
737 1579 ua Carbon Trust (2015) Centre with leisure pool
287 451 ua Step2Sport (2015) Sports complexes with indoor pools and gymnasium
and/or sports halls (per gross floor area)
437 544 ua Step2Sport (2015) Sports complexes with indoor pools and gymnasium
and/or sports halls (Per conditioned floor area)
632 2247 ua Rajagopalan (2014) Swimming pools with other facilities
4300 ws Trianti-Stourna et al. (1998) Swimming pools only- Mediterranean Zone
5200 ws Trianti-Stourna et al. (1998) Swimming pools only −European Zone
2002 4419 ws Kampel et al. (2013) Swimming facilities only
0.47 2.93 ws/hour Kampel et al. (2014) Swimming facilities only
141 318 ua CERM PI (2014) Aquatic centre − Electricity usage only
129 332 ua CERM PI (2013) Aquatic centre − Electricity usage only

Table 2
Water benchmark comparison of aquatic centres.

Water Use Intensity (kl) Unit Source Comments

Low Typical/Average High

875 27899 Per centre Aquatics Recreation Victoria (ARV) 2014) Aquatic centre including facilities
3533 48418 Per centre Kampel et al. (2014) Swimming facilities only
<0.02 0.02–0.04 >0.06 Per bather Sydney Water Corporation (2011) Aquatic centres including facilities
0.065 0.154 Per person Kampel et al. (2014) Swimming facilities only
8397 30266 Per centre CERM PI (2014) Aquatic centre
2.2 7.4 Per meter square CERM PI (2014) Aquatic centre
0.026 0.117 Per visit CERM PI (2014) Aquatic centre
7837 26778 Per centre CERM PI (2013) Aquatic centre
2.4 7.7 Per meter square CERM PI (2013) Aquatic centre
0.025 0.144 Per visit CERM PI (2013) Aquatic centre

tion of aquatic/swimming pool facilities (“Comments” column) are
noticeably different to each other. Some have focussed on swim-
ming pools only while others have focussed on swimming facilities
and it is also unclear what type of amenities have been included in
the benchmarking. There is no consistency in the way researchers
are selecting or defining the buildings that they are benchmarking.
It would be difficult for an aquatic centre (e.g. an aquatic cen-
tre with indoor pools, gymnasium, café and a crèche) to compare
its energy usage intensity against Table 1 benchmarks. Different
energy performance indicators/units are also used: kWh/m2 ua
(usable area) and kWh/m2 ws (water surface). Using water surface
as a performance indicator will make energy comparison between
aquatic centres and other types of buildings (residential build-
ings, retail buildings, office buildings etc.) difficult. A water surface
performance indicator might be appropriate if the research was
focussed on the indoor swimming hall only. However, because most
aquatic centres include several amenities including dry areas (e.g.
gym, sport hall, café) using water surface as a performance indica-
tor/unit might produce unreliable benchmarks. CIBSE stated that
a common unit for energy building benchmark is kWh of energy
used per unit of floor area (kWh/m2 ) measured over one year and
also highlighted that developing a benchmark based on energy
consumption per unit of floor area of a building will allow direct
comparison with other buildings (CIBSE, 2008).
Several studies have used usable area (floor area) as an energy
performance indicator for benchmarking. However, many do not
clearly describe what they mean by the term usable area (floor
area). A question that can arise from this discrepancy is whether
the usable area (floor area) chosen includes both conditioned and
unconditioned areas. As an example, there will be some confusion
when deciding if a naturally-ventilated stadium or an uncon-
ditioned indoor sports hall within an aquatic centre should be
included in the analysis. Step2Sport (Step2Sport, 2015) is the only
recent study that has clearly presented the energy performance
indicators used in their report namely energy consumption per
gross floor area; energy consumption per net floor area; energy
consumption per conditioned floor area; and energy consumption
per conditioned volume. Definitions of the energy performance
indicators were also provided. However, they did not clarify what
amenities had been included in their analysis.
Not providing clear definition and details on what areas have
been included in the above energy benchmarks can lead to confu-
sion if they were to be used as benchmarks for future projects. The
CIBSE (CIBSE, 2008), British Swimming (British Swimming, 2008)
and Carbon Trust Good Practice Guide (Carbon Trust, 2015) bench-
mark figures are comparable. Table 1 shows both Step2Sport’s
annual energy consumption per gross floor area (unconditioned
floor areas are also included) and annual energy consumption
per conditioned floor area. Their figures are significantly lower
compared to all the other studies. The 544 kWh/m2 estimated
by Step2Sport (Step2Sport, 2015) is the highest annual energy
consumption recorded amongst the audited sport complexes. How-
ever, compared to the other energy use intensities listed in Table 1,
it is amongst the lowest. Another concern is that the 287 kWh/m2
estimated by Step2Sport (Step2Sport, 2015) seems to be very
low for an aquatic centres when compared to the other centres.
Rajagopalan (Rajagopalan, 2014) and CERM PI (CERM PI, 2013;
CERM PI, 2014) benchmark figures are the most current energy
benchmark of aquatic centres in Australia. However, the sample
used by Rajagopalan (Rajagopalan, 2014) was small. Although the
CERM PI reports have sufficient samples, they only benchmarked
electricity usage. Gas is the major source of energy to heat pool
water in aquatic centres and was not considered in their reports.
 J.J. Duverge et al. / Sustainable Cities and Society 31 (2017) 51–61 57

Table 3
List of aquatic centres and amenities available.

Aquatic Centres Indoor pools Outdoor Pools Gym Sport hall Café Creche Spa Sauna Program Rooms

C1 3 N Y Y Y Y N N Y
C2 3 1 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
C3 4 N Y N Y Y Y Y Y
C4 1 1 Y N Y Y N N Y
C5 2 N Y Y Y N N N Y
C6 3 N Y N Y Y Y Y Y
C7 4 2 Y N Y Y Y N N
C8 3 4 Y N N N Y Y Y
C9 4 N Y N Y N Y Y Y
C10 4 N Y N Y Y Y Y Y
C11 3 N Y Y N Y Y N Y
C12 4 1 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
C13 3 N Y N Y Y Y N N
C14 3 N Y N Y Y Y Y Y
C15 4 1 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
C16 2 1 Y N N Y Y Y Y
C17 4 N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
C18 1 2 N N Y N N N Y
C19 5 N Y N Y Y Y Y Y
C20 3 N Y N Y Y N N N
C21 2 3 Y Y N Y Y Y Y

5.2. Review of existing water benchmarks for aquatic centres
Table 2 summarises water benchmarks for aquatic centres and
indoor swimming pools. It shows that several water performance
indicators have been used. This can be confusing and misleading
when comparing aquatic centres. It is unclear what performance
indicator: kL per person and kL per visit mean. This can raise the
question whether the person is using the swimming pool or other
facilities like the gymnasium. ARV (Aquatics Recreation Victoria
(ARV), 2014) and CERM PI (CERM PI, 2013; CERM PI, 2014) “high”
categories water usage per centre benchmarks are within close
range (26,000 kL–30,000 kL). However, their “low” categories water
usage per centre benchmarks are different, ranging from 875 kL to
8400 kL. CERM PI also used kL per m2 as a performance indicator
but there is no indication in their reports what areas were used for
this analysis. There are again inconsistencies in the way researchers
and organisations are benchmarking the water use of aquatic cen-
tres and swimming pools. For example, different units are used and
there are significant differences in water use intensity. The major-
ity of the water benchmark studies listed in Table 2 were done
in Australia (ARV, Sydney Water Corporation and CERM PI). Inter-
nationally, there are not many studies that have investigated the
water impact of aquatic centres.
Reviewing the existing energy and water benchmark of aquatic
centres has revealed that there clearly needs to be a definition of
aquatic centres/buildings with indoor swimming pool facilities and
what types of amenities are included. There is no consistency in
the way researchers define buildings with indoor swimming pool
facilities. This makes any comparison between the available energy
and water benchmarks problematic. Tables 1 and 2 have also iden-
tified that there is no consistency on how researchers are defining
what they mean by the energy and water use of aquatic centres or
how they are benchmarking the water and energy use of aquatic
centres. For example, as discussed by Madani and Khatami, there
are several metrics for measuring water impacts of energy produc-
tion such as water consumption, water withdrawal, water use etc.
(Madani & Khatami, 2015). Energy metrics used such as Delivery
Energy (DE), Primary Energy (PE) and Final Annual Energy Con-
sumption (FAEC) (Kampel, 2015) are also poorly defined in majority
of the studies listed in Table 1. No consistent definition of water and
energy use of aquatic centre has also lead to the confusion in com-
paring existing benchmarks of aquatic centres. There is also a lack of
studies that have thoroughly investigated the link between water
and energy use of aquatic centres and energy and water are firmly
interconnected and interdependent (Madani & Khatami, 2015).
6. Aquatic centre’s energy and water benchmarking: a
guideline
Fig. 1 categorises aquatic centres according to the number and
types of amenities that they offer. Based on this data, an aquatic cen-
tre has therefore been defined as a community or public venue that
includes at least an indoor swimming pool and three different types
of amenities such as a gymnasium, sauna/spa, café, crèche. Centres
with only outdoor swimming pools are not classified or defined as
an aquatic centre. The majority of outdoor swimming pools in Vic-
toria are usually only opened during the summer seasons. Table 3
shows the information collected from the initial samples.
Table 3 provided a list of aquatic centres and their respective
amenities. This data was collected through questionnaires, floor
plans and site visits. All the aquatic centres listed above contains at
least one indoor swimming pool and at least three amenities.
Tables 1 and 2 provide summaries of energy and water bench-
marks for aquatic centres and indoor swimming pools by several
researchers and organisations. When comparing the benchmarks,
it is clear that there is no consistency between researchers in the
way the benchmarks were developed (different performance indi-
cators/units were used). They also have their own definition of
aquatic centres and it is unclear how they derived their definition.
The definition of an aquatic centre provided in this study will facil-
itate future benchmark comparison studies. The definition has also
linked some of the benchmark studies listed in Tables 1 and 2. For
example, Kampel et al. (2013) described that leisure pool facilities
can include a pool, a diving platform, different water attractions and
relaxation areas like a restaurant, spa or sauna and Trianti-Stourna
et al. (1998) described that sport facilities can include several types
of pools with offices, restaurant, shops, training areas and other
smaller amenities like saunas, spa. The definition provided in Sec-
tion 2 indicates that these authors are in fact referring to an aquatic
centre based on their respective descriptions.
The benchmark comparison performed, has confirmed that
there are no universal guides for benchmarking and assessing the
energy and water performance of aquatic centres, in compari-
son to other buildings types such as offices, residential buildings
and hotels, that have are several guidelines (e.g. CIBSE energy
benchmark, National Australian Built Environment Rating System
58 J.J. Duverge et al. / Sustainable Cities and Society 31 (2017) 51–61
Fig. 1. Classification of aquatic centres in Victoria, Australia.
(NABERS), Energy Star). Guidelines for defining aquatic centres and
benchmarking energy and water use of aquatic centres is therefore
proposed below.
It is understood that the term ‘aquatic centre’ may not be
used everywhere as there are already several other terms used
which are listed in Section 3 above. However, to facilitate compar-
ison between future aquatic centres studies, universal guidelines
should be created. Comparing and categorising aquatic centres with
exactly the same amenities and same number of amenities would
have been ideal but practically this will create more confusion
because based on Table 3, there will have been too many cate-
gories. Many of the amenities (café, gym, office, crèche and meeting
room) have similar controlled environment (temperature) and can
be grouped in the same zone i.e. the dry zone. A zone in this study
refers to an enclosed area with similar controlled environment (air
temperature and humidity). All indoor swimming pools including
spa and sauna within an aquatic centre, are usually within the same
pool hall (the wet zone). In fact, regardless what the amenities are,
how many amenities are available and how many indoor pools
are included, an aquatic centre will always have the two zones
listed above. Theoretically, the same facilities are compared. Out-
door pools cannot be listed as a third zone because they are exposed
to external environment that cannot be controlled and they are
usually only opened during the summer seasons.
These guidelines will list what factors must be taken into consid-
eration when identifying buildings with swimming pool facilities.
Proposed guidelines for identifying aquatic centres include:
• The centre must have at least an indoor swimming pool open
to the general public. It can include several swimming pools
including outdoor swimming pools. Centres with only an out-
door swimming pool are not included in this category because
they are only usually open during the warmer seasons and also
outdoor environments cannot be controlled.
• The centre must have at least three other amenities from
the following: gymnasium, sport hall, fitness studio, office,
cafés/restaurant, crèche/childcare, indoor court, sauna/spa,
meeting room and library.
• The researchers must clearly state what types of amenities are
included within their evaluation.
• If the researchers decide to include or exclude some amenities in
their definition, they must clearly state the reasons why.
Proposed guidelines for benchmarking energy and water use of
aquatic centres is listed below:
• The researchers must clearly define the aquatic centres under
investigation. The set of rules for defining aquatic centres as men-
tioned above or similar must be followed.
• Reasons must be provided why particular performance indicators
have been chosen.
a. Energy
• Consider using kWh of energy used per unit of floor area (kWh/m2
ua) instead of kWh of energy used per unit of water surface area
(kWh/m2 ws). Aquatic centres have several dry areas. kWh/m2 ws
can be used when only assessing the swimming pool hall. Using
kWh/m2 ua will allow direct comparison between other building
types.
• The researchers must clearly define the area used in the bench-
marking and provide reasons for their choice. There are several
terms that could be used when describing to the amount of area
of a building.
• Gross floor area – the total floor area contained within the build-
ing measured to the outer face of the external walls.
• Gross internal area – the floor area contained within the building
measured to the inner face of the external walls.
• Usable floor area – it is the gross internal area less the floor areas
taken up by stairs, escalators, lifts, thick columns or risers.
• The researchers must clearly state whether the floor areas chosen
in the analysis are based on conditioned or unconditioned areas
or both and provide reasons why particular areas were included
or excluded. If possible, unconditioned areas must be excluded
from the analysis unless they used a significant amount of energy
or water. As an example, an unconditioned sport hall should not
be included if possible because including the area of a sport hall
 J.J. Duverge et al. / Sustainable Cities and Society 31 (2017) 51–61 59

Idenfying aquac
centres for energy and
water benchmarking

NO Does the building have an

Category 6 in Pie chart
indoor pool and is open to
(Figure 1)
the general public?

Not an aquac centre

therefore exclude from YES
benchmarking

Does the building

Category 4 and 5 in Pie NO
have 3 or more
chart (Figure 1) amenies?

YES

The building is amongst Categories

1, 2 or 3 (Figure 1) therefore
considered as an aquac centre

ENERGY Choosing performance WATER

indicators

kWh/m2 ua KL or L per
person

Idenfy condioned
and uncondioned
areas

Do uncondioned
areas use
NO Exclude Calculate
significant
uncondioned areas bather/visitor rao
amount of
energy?

YES

Include condioned
areas

Start energy Start water

benchmarking benchmarking

Fig. 2. Process map for identifying aquatic centres for energy and water benchmarks.

(they usually have a large floor area) in a benchmark analysis mate the total electricity used by the sport hall lighting and then
will lower the centre’s energy intensity compared to a centre deducted from the centre overall electricity usage. This calcula-
that does not have a sport hall. Calculations can be made to esti- tion can be achieved by obtaining information through audits and
60 J.J. Duverge et al. / Sustainable Cities and Society 31 (2017) 51–61
Table 4
Calculation of ratio bather/visitor.
Water use WELS Rating L/Bather L/Visitor
Shower (3 min) 3 (>7.5 L/min but 27
<=9.0 L/min)
Toilet 3 (4.0 L per flush) 4 4
Tap (Hand basin-15 Sec) 4 (>6.0 L/min But 2 2
<=7.5 L/min)
Total 33 6
lighting plans or use the building code of the particular country.
As an example, the NCC (National Construction Code of Australia)
energy efficiency requirement allows a maximum illumination
power density of 10 W per m2 for a stadium. Assuming that the
stadium lighting is on 8 h per day, the overall lighting electricity
usage of the stadium for a year could be 10 W × the area of the
stadium × 8 h × 365 days. Examples of other unconditioned areas
are: enclosed car parks, store rooms, and plant rooms.
b. Water
• Careful consideration must be made when choosing a perfor-
mance indicator or unit for water usage. kL or L per person is
an appropriate performance indicator rather than kL per bather
because aquatic centres have dry amenities like gyms, sport hall
and child care facilities. kL per centre should not be used because
majority of aquatic centres have different layouts and areas.
• The unit “per person” will be a mixture of people using the swim-
ming pools facilities and the dry areas amenities like gym, sport
hall, childcare etc. Some aquatic centres record the number of
people using the swimming pool facilities and the dry area ameni-
ties separately. Some calculations and averages will be required
to estimate the number of persons for benchmarking purposes.
• A possible method for calculating the number of persons could
be that one bather will be recorded as one person. Every 5.5 per-
sons utilising the dry area amenities or visiting the centre will
be accounted as one bather because bathers will use more water
than people using dry area facilities or visiting the centre. The
ratio provided is based on calculation and assumptions listed in
Table 4.
• The researchers may decide to select different performance indi-
cators and provide sufficient evidence to justify their choice.
However, it is advised that they also utilise the performance indi-
cators listed above in order to facilitate the comparison of their
benchmark results to other studies.
Fig. 2 is a process map created to facilitate the classification of
an aquatic centre for benchmarking purposes. The aquatic centre
is classified according to the categories listed in Fig. 1 in Section 2.
Categories 4, 5 and 6 are eliminated and not classified as an aquatic
centre. Once the building is selected as being within Categories 1,
2 and 3, the building can be classified as an aquatic centre and
therefore included in the benchmarking process.
7. Conclusion
This paper has provided a clear definition of an aquatic cen-
tre based on investigations of aquatic centres in Victoria, Australia.
This definition can easily be used worldwide as they all have similar
types of amenities. Information from 110 aquatic centres were col-
lected by using the Internet and used to establish several categories
of aquatic centres based on the types and number of amenities that
they provide. This study defined an aquatic centre as a commu-
nity or public venue that provides at least one indoor swimming
pool and three different types of amenities such as gymnasium,
sauna/spa, café and crèche.
Guidelines have also been proposed so that buildings with
indoor swimming pool facilities can be easily identified for future
research and this will facilitate the classification or categorisation
of aquatic centres in both Australia and worldwide. The proposed
set of rules for benchmarking energy and water use of aquatic cen-
tres proposed aims to reduce the discrepancies and confusion in
this area. These guidelines will make comparison between aquatic
centres studies easier and more useful.
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