SPLASH! 2026 – Bigger, better and one to remember | SPASA SPASA BLOG
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Last week, Richie and I travelled to Queensland for SPLASH! 2026 — the Australian pool and spa industry’s major trade show on the Gold Coast.
And while we spend our lives talking about swimming pools, SPLASH! was a great reminder that behind every finished pool is an enormous industry of people, businesses, ideas and innovation that most homeowners will never see.
There are the manufacturers developing better filtration systems. The engineers improving hydraulics. The companies working on smarter automation and energy efficiency. The chemists and water specialists continually improving the way pools are sanitised and maintained.
Then there are the tile manufacturers, equipment suppliers, heating specialists, lighting companies, software developers, inventors and family businesses that have spent decades perfecting one small part of what eventually becomes somebody’s backyard.
For us, attending SPLASH! isn’t simply about walking around looking at products.
It’s about staying connected to the industry that sits behind the pools we build.
Meeting the People Behind the Products
One of the most valuable parts of a trade show is being able to stand face-to-face with the businesses that manufacture and supply the products we use every day.
A brochure can tell you what a product does.
A conversation with the people who designed, developed or manufacture it tells you why it exists, what problem it solves and where they believe the industry is heading next.
Those conversations matter to us.
We want to understand what’s changing in filtration.
What’s happening with mineral and salt systems.
How automation is evolving.
What’s becoming more energy efficient.
What new finishes, tiles, lighting and water features are entering the market.
And importantly, which innovations genuinely make pool ownership better — rather than simply adding another gadget to the equipment pad.
Innovation Doesn’t Stop Once You’ve Been Building Pools for a Long Time
Blue Haven has been building swimming pools in Australia since 1973.
That history gives us enormous experience, but experience should never become an excuse to stop learning.
In fact, we believe the longer you’ve been in an industry, the more important it becomes to keep challenging the way things have always been done.
Pool technology has changed dramatically.
Today’s homeowner expects more from their backyard. Pools aren’t simply somewhere to swim anymore.
They’re part of the architecture of the home.
They’re entertainment spaces.
Wellness spaces.
Places for families to gather.
And increasingly, customers want pools that are easier to operate, more efficient to run and more intelligent in the way their equipment works.
Being at SPLASH! gives us the opportunity to see those changes happening firsthand.
Sometimes the Best Part Isn’t the Product
There was another side of SPLASH! that Richie and I really appreciated.
The people.
Pool builders spend most of their working lives competing for the same customers. But when you bring the wider industry together in one place, you realise just how much knowledge exists across Australia.
Builders, suppliers, manufacturers, technicians, designers and innovators all experience different parts of the same industry.
Having conversations about what’s working, what needs improving and what customers are asking for is incredibly valuable.
You come home with new ideas.
Some are big.
Some are tiny.
And sometimes a five-minute conversation on a trade stand gives you an idea that changes the way you approach something back in the business.
That’s exactly why we go.
What Does Any of This Mean for a Blue Haven Customer?
Ultimately, attending an industry event only matters if what we learn makes its way back to our customers.
Our job is to filter through the hundreds of products, technologies and ideas being presented and ask a very simple question:
Will this make the pool better?
Will it make it easier to own?
More reliable?
More efficient?
More beautiful?
More enjoyable?
If the answer is yes, we want to understand it.
Because our customers shouldn’t have to become experts in pumps, hydraulics, sanitation, heating, automation or pool construction.
That’s our job.
Coming Home Inspired
After more than five decades in the Australian swimming pool industry, it’s exciting to see that innovation isn’t slowing down.
If anything, it’s accelerating.
We left Queensland with plenty of conversations continuing, products we’re interested in exploring further and ideas we’ll be bringing back into Blue Haven.
But perhaps the biggest takeaway was something much simpler.
A swimming pool might look like water, concrete, tiles and equipment when it’s finished.
Behind it is an entire industry of people constantly trying to make that experience better.
It was fantastic for Richie and me to spend the day amongst them.
And now we’re back in Sydney, inspired, caffeinated, and probably with a slightly longer list of things we want to change than when we left.
That’s usually the sign of a good trade show.
— Remonda Rose
Managing Director
Blue Haven Pools & Spas
