Press Release 03/2012 - Australia
The Inventor of the Natural Pool
Interview with Biotop’s CEO Peter Petrich
The Austrian Peter Petrich is considered to be the pioneer of the natural pool movement. In
1985 his company Biotop Landschaftsgestaltung GmbH built the first natural pool. In the past ten years he has built up a network of partner companies, which annually build roughly 200 natural pools within the scope of a license agreement. With its almost 4,000 natural pools across Europe the Biotop Natural Pool Group is one of the market leaders. From 2012 on the Biotop Natural Pool is also represented on the Australian market.
Question: Natural pools have been built in Austria for over two decades. When did this idea start to spread to other countries?
Peter Petrich: In the second half of the 1980’s natural pools were almost exclusively built in Austria, primarily by Biotop. Only after Biotop had had years of success, was I able to convince a few firms in southern Germany in 1994 to offer natural pools according to our system. In the next decade we were able to increase our partner network to all of Germany and to Switzerland, because demand for this new alternative to the classic swimming pool was rising sharply.
Why has the natural pool movement only begun to gain ground recently in Australia?
It is probably mainly due to the distance. After all halfway round the globe is a vast distance, thus it takes a while for a new idea to take root despite the digital era. We found our first partner on the south side of the globe in New Zealand. This contact was developed through an employee of a German partner company, who moved to Motueka for love.
Has the Natural Pool taken off there?
Natural Pool New Zealand had to overcome a dry spell lasting nearly two years. They then built a show pool and from then on Hans Brutscher and Alex Traut were doing very well. The only setback was the earthquake in September 2010. Since then the pools are being designed to withstand earthquakes.
Were there no queries from Australia once Biotop was present in New Zealand?
Through our website we received about 20 to 30 enquiries per year from Australia. We know from experience that only about 10 percent of the people who request documents are actually interested in building a pool. The rest just like the idea and want to know more about it. Two real prospects were not enough for us to actively look for a partner company. And for long distance planning, which we offer in countries where we are not represented, the transportation costs for our technological components were too high.
Don't the partners in New Zealand and Australia use Biotop components?
All our partners are obligated to use only original building components from Biotop. But they order parts for several pools at a time and this makes the costs tolerable. It is very important to us that quality materials are used in all pools built according to our system.
There was no interest from Australian gardening firms?
Only very sporadically. And even then from companies who had no experience whatsoever in building pools. This was not the case at all for the company NATURAL swim ponds Australia. During the training at our company headquarters it was immediately evident that Mr. Zwar was very knowledgeable in this field. Ms. Kvist and he have been building pools for almost as long as Biotop has been building natural pools. This was, of course, ideal for Biotop, as we did not have to anticipate any teething problems. For Natural swim ponds Australia the partnership is probably similarly ideal: with Biotop they’ve got the market leader on board. Our joint “Natural Pool Australia” ship is optimally equipped!
In the meantime, isn’t the know-how about building natural pools – due in part to the Internet – available to anyone?
On the surface that may seem to be true, but in practice the situation is different. It is much more difficult to build a natural pool than many gardening firms assume. Just excavating a hole, putting in a liner, planting a few water plants, filling it with water and adding some decking is not enough. Biotop is constantly faced with cases like this and having to get them to work. These are not only pools that garden owners have built themselves, but also those built by “professional” gardening operations. 25 years of experience cannot simply be downloaded from the Internet. Gardening firms that now offer natural pools without a system will make the same mistakes that we made 20 years ago.
What is the secret to the Biotop Natural Pool system?
The secret lies in the knowledge of the complex relationships in natural water and the perfect details. Submerged pump shaft, curved sieve skimmer, PhosTec filter and biofilter are just a few examples of the range of developments in recent years. We are always ahead of our competitors by two or three years. And that not only makes us proud, but also economically strong. We can thus constantly invest in new ideas. Ideas which are sometimes brought to us by our partner companies, but also by our customers. The Biotop Natural Pool system has developed enormously in the past 20 years. Biotop’s latest creation is the Living Pool. It looks like a normal pool but operates like a fully-fledged natural pool.
How did you make contact with Annika Kwist and Wayne Zwar?
Wayne called us after carrying out extensive research on the system providers on the market. I like this approach. Don’t go with the first available provider, but aim for the best and most suitable. I think that ultimately Biotop’s good reputation in the field led to his decision.
How quickly will Australia have a partner network?
I’m not even thinking about that yet. One of our principles is that the number of partners is governed by demand. To assist our more than 50 partners worldwide, we provide highly qualified staff to help ensure that high-quality pools are built. And we would rather build ten perfect natural pools a year in Australia, than build a hundred inferior ones. We must maintain our good reputation.
How much do you intend to involve yourself in Australia?
As the Australian summer starts during the European winter, I do plan to go to Australia myself once the stress at work subsides somewhat. Perhaps my lectures can personally convince one or two Australians of the high quality of our products.
All your thoughts and activities seem to revolve around natural pools. What would you do if there were no natural pools in your life?
I would have to invent them.
Klosterneuburg/Vienna on October 1, 2012 (6,400 characters)
Further information:
Annika Kvist
NATURAL swim ponds Australia
P.O.Box 61 Yackandandah
3749 YACKANDANDAH, VICTORIA
T.: +61-412-52 49 42
www.biotop-natural-pool.com
Digital photo material “The Inventor of the Natural Pool”
Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3
Photo captions:
Photo 1: Peter Petrich, owner and CEO of the globally operating company Biotop.
Photo 2: The Living Pool: Biotop’s newest innovation.
Photo 3: Biotop Natural Pool: One of the nearly 200 pools built in 2012
4c-digital photos can be requested in printable resolution if needed at:
Photo No. 1-3 (photo: biotop-natural-pool.com). All digital photos are available for use free of charge. As source please specify - Photo: biotop-natural-pool.com
If published, we kindly ask you to send a copy to:
NATURAL swim ponds Australia, P.O.Box 61 Yackandandah, 3749 YACKANDANDAH, VICTORIA
Facts & Figures:
Biotop Landschaftsgestaltung GmbH was the first company worldwide to introduce an ecological alternative to the conventional swimming pool – the natural pool – to the market in 1987. Subsequently, the product was developed further and patented and received numerous awards.
To this day Biotop remains Austria’s market leader in this field and together with its 50 licensees is also the number 1 worldwide. So far over 1,000 natural pools have been built by Biotop itself and more than 3,500 pools in cooperation with their partner companies. Today Biotop Natural Pools are built all over Europe, in the USA and even in New Zealand and Australia.
Market leadership is maintained through consistent research and development of the product. The latest innovation is the Living Pool, which is a biological swimming pool, appealing to a new target group and already accounting for roughly 25% of total sales. Thanks to the conversion shaft existing pools can also be converted to a Living Pool at minimum cost and effort.
The company is located in Klosterneuburg near Vienna. Sustainability is an important aspect of the organizational culture, both on an economic and environmental level.
In 2011 with more than 200 employees the Group had revenues of approximately EUR 10 million. There is one franchises partner each in Australia and New Zealand.