Splashing out on cool pools

Pools are back making a splash in the Melbourne property market and the best examples are now touted as a prime point of difference that can entice buyers and swing extra bids.

No longer is a pool relegated to the middle of the back lawn for the kids to slip-slop-slap-and-swim on hot summer days, after someone has purged its off-season slime. Advances in engineering, technology and design have changed forever its place and purpose.

Pools are now sought-after to enhance that desirable seamless indoor-outdoor lifestyle. In new builds and large-scale renovations, they are bespoke features hugging the house, integrating with entertainment spaces and visible from as much of the indoors as possible. They’re not even called swimming pools much anymore, because having a pool for relaxing, for cooling off, for entertaining and for aesthetics alone is commonplace.

It’s not hard to spend between $100,000 and $200,000 on installation, depending on site and extras, but tight inner-city sites with high land values are big winners. “A pool increases the desirability of a property package; it’s not essential but a pool (in Albert Park) will set it apart,” says bayside agent Greg Hocking. “If you have a couple of buyers they’ll be prepared to fight a bit more, and pay a bit more.”

Square plunge pools and lap pools the width of a driveway are popular. You can build over a garage, on a rooftop, in a basement, under a cantilevered roof or indoors. “If you want a triangle shape to suit your back yard it can be done,” says landscape architect Lewis Marash of 2015 Pool of the Year winning company Out From The Blue. “The shotcrete method of spraying concrete against timber formwork and reinforcing steel makes it like a sculpture, forming the internal shape.”

Time-consuming pool cleaning chores have evaporated with smoother surfaces and computerised in-floor systems that function year-round. Solar heating and rainwater tanks have made pools energy-efficient and environment-conscious.

There’s no denying the ambient beauty and tranquillity of a body of water, and innovative and stylish design enhance the aesthetics.

Bisazza Italian glass mosaic tiles are in demand for textural detail. An infinity edge places you on the Earth’s rim and a transparent acrylic end-wall spills light and movement into living rooms, a cellar or a home cinema. Fountains and spouts add splash, a waterwall catching the light creates shimmer, a tile or stone shelf forms shallows for wading or sitting, and wide steps invite people to sit around and hang out.

Underwater and landscape night lighting creates an inviting ambience — just add a music system, heating, outdoor kitchen, lounging and dining areas, outdoor fireplace and a pizza oven.

“Gone are the days when we only entertain outdoors when the sun shines,” Marash says. “In Melbourne we don’t get the pool use like in Queensland, so our clients want something that, when it’s not in use, is still visually fantastic to look at from inside the house.”

Peter Vigano​, of Jellis Craig, says buyers today expect a pool at contemporary luxury properties, even on scaled-down land. “If it’s an extra $50,000 or $100,000 or $200,000, the price almost becomes irrelevant,” he says. “It’s great for entertaining, for kids, to cool off. People gravitate to water.”

New-wave pools

• Bespoke size and shape — plunge pool, lap pool, freeform, reflection pool
• Wrap the pool with living areas to maximise the outlook and supervision from inside the house
• Place it beside al fresco entertainment areas within a deck or terrace, on a rooftop, over a garage or indoors
• Self-cleaning
• Solar and/or gas heating
• Least visually intrusive compliance with pool-fencing regulations using frameless glass barricades or house structure
• With or without spa
• Add a water feature, fountain, spouts or waterwall for movement
• A tiled or stone shelf forms a wading area
• Infinity edge
• Acrylic panel for external viewing
• Consider tile type, size, shape, patterning, colour
• Underwater lighting

Builder’s theory holds water

Technology and nature play equal roles in the design of the electric-blue tiled pool at the luxury  house Vlado and son Josh, pictured, have just built, but the way it integrates with lifestyle was always the priority.

“The pool adds 50 per cent to your lifestyle here,” Vlado says. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t swim in it. I see it as a bit of countryside — a lake and nice things around it, and it reminds me of that environment. It’s so calming.”

The feature by Bespoke Pools of Clifton Hill is wrapped by living areas, kitchen and study, and is visible from the upper-storey gallery that accesses four bedrooms with en suites. It’s chlorine-free, salt-free, self-cleaning, solar-heated and night-lit. Half is a 10-metre length with spouts and a water feature that create splash; the rest is a shallow shelf furnished with granite slabs that appear to float, inviting you to step from the shaded patio to bask in the north sun with your toes in the water. 

Dive right in

3 Illawarra Crescent, Toorak
$8.5million-plus

It must be one of Melbourne’s loveliest Tudor residences, and this cul-de-sac property manages to match its c1920 heritage value with interior finesse and outdoor pleasure.

The 15-metre salt/chlorinated tiled lap pool — solar-and-gas heated and self-cleaning — runs alongside the house between a paved terrace with fireplace and a patio beside the front lawn.

Looking out through the living and dining rooms’ diamond leadlight windows, and from the upstairs bedrooms, its blueness creates a stunning contrast against clipped green hedges, bluestone paving and rich interior timbers.

“A good modern pool is an expectation at this price point and this has exceptional appeal. The pool penetrates the living space so it’s both an aesthetic feature and practical,” agent Marcus Chiminello says.

Luxuriating in space, the house has five bedrooms, six bathrooms, formal and casual living and dining rooms, rumpus room, music room, study, gym, home cinema and cellar.

Private sale
Marshall White, Marcus Chiminello 0411 411 271

Or try these

8b Highfield Grove, Kew
$4.4 million-plus

A large plunge pool offers a reflective surface for living rooms inside this five-year-old luxury property near Kew junction.

Auction at 6.30pm, on December 10
Jellis Craig, Peter Vigano 0407 301 224

20-22 George Street, East Melbourne
$3.5 million-plus

A 16-metre lap pool of glass mosaic tiles is rarely seen in this location, drawing buyer attention to the Georgian-front brick house.

Expressions of interest close at 5pm, on December 8
Kay & Burton, Monique Depierre 0407 881 327

232 Danks Street, Albert Park
$4 million-plus

Options for wading and swimming laps are catered for in the self-cleaning pool incorporated into slick renovations at this refined five-bedroom Victorian property.

Auction at 12.30pm, on December 13
Greg Hocking Holdsworth, Greg Hocking 0418 329 961