Pool Renovation near you

Electrical installations in the United Kingdom are designed to BS 7671, the Wiring Regulations, and pools have their own section within it. Section 702 covers the basins of swimming pools, paddling pools and fountains and the zones surrounding them, and it applies because the risk of electric shock is increased by wet, partially clothed bodies with reduced body resistance and good contact with earth. The IET, which publishes BS 7671 jointly with BSI, explains that the 17th edition replaced the old zones A, B and C with zones 0, 1 and 2, keeping the same dimensions, and that for a swimming pool zones 1 and 2 may be limited by fixed partitions of at least 2.5m height. The edition matters when you commission work: Amendment 4:2026 is the current published amendment, and the IET states that Amendment 3:2024 remains a valid standard until 15 October 2026, so ask your electrician which one the certificate refers to.

What may be installed changes zone by zone. In zones 0 and 1, switchgear, controlgear, accessories and junction boxes are not to be installed, with an exception for SELV junction boxes in zone 1, and only current-using equipment specifically designed for a swimming pool application is permitted. Socket-outlets may go in zone 1 only where they cannot be placed outside it, and then only more than 1.25m horizontally from the border of zone 0, at least 0.3m above the floor, and protected by a 30mA residual current device or by electrical separation with the safety isolating transformer outside the zones. In zone 2, equipment, socket-outlets, switches and accessories are permitted but must be protected by electrical separation, by SELV, or by a 30mA RCD.

Lighting is the item that catches people out during a refurbishment. In zones 0 and 1 only protection by SELV is permitted, with a nominal voltage not exceeding 12V a.c. rms or 30V ripple-free d.c. in zone 0 and not exceeding 25V a.c. rms or 60V ripple-free d.c. in zone 1, the SELV source itself installed outside zones 0, 1 and 2. In zone 2, luminaires must be protected by SELV, by a 30mA RCD or by electrical separation. Equipment must also reach a minimum degree of protection to BS EN 60529: IPX8 in zone 0, IPX4 in zone 1 or IPX5 where water jets are likely to be used for cleaning, and IPX2 indoors or IPX4 outdoors in zone 2, again IPX5 where jetting is likely.

Supplementary equipotential bonding is required between all extraneous-conductive-parts and the protective conductors of all exposed-conductive-parts in zones 0, 1 and 2, whether or not they are simultaneously accessible. That catches the metalwork a renovation tends to add: handrails, ladders, grilles, metal covers, pipework and the frames of new plant. Any metallic sheath or metallic covering of a wiring system, including conduit, whether surface-run or buried in walls or floors at a depth not exceeding 50mm, must also be connected to that bonding. There is no general requirement to install a metal grid in a solid floor, but where one exists it must be bonded in.

Earthing is the other conversation, and it is the one most likely to add cost. Most British homes are supplied using protective multiple earthing, permitted under the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002 as amended and described in BS 7671 as TN-C-S. The IET points out that under certain external fault conditions a potential can develop between parts connected to the PME earth terminal and the general mass of earth, and that this matters most where body contact resistance is low and contact with true earth is good, which describes a swimmer exactly. A distributor may therefore decide not to provide a PME earthing terminal for an installation such as a swimming pool; where one is provided, BS 7671 does not forbid its use but recommends an earth mat or electrode of suitably low resistance, for example 20 ohms or less, connected to the equipotential bonding.

None of this is homeowner work, and it is not the pool fitter's work either unless they employ an electrician. The practical step at quotation stage is to ask who is designing the electrical installation, what earthing arrangement they intend to use, and whether the existing bonding will be tested and extended or simply reconnected. A renovation that reuses twenty-year-old bonding without testing it is not a renovation of the electrics.

The order is largely fixed by the water. The pool is drained, which in Britain needs planning in its own right because a full drain down is a large discharge and it has to go somewhere lawful. The basin is then stripped, inspected and dried, and that inspection is the point where the price can move: what looked like a reline can turn into render repair once the old liner is off. Structural and waterproofing work follows, then the finish, then the circulation and plant, then commissioning and the refill.

An empty pool is not a stable pool, and in a wet British winter it is less stable still. Groundwater pressure against an empty shell is a real risk on some sites, which is why a competent contractor asks about the water table and may fit or check a hydrostatic relief valve before leaving a pool dry. It is also why renovations are usually programmed for spring and early summer rather than left open across the winter.

Expect commissioning to take longer than the refill. A new finish needs its curing regime followed, a new circulation system needs balancing, and the water needs bringing into balance before anyone swims. A contractor who hands back a full pool on the day it is filled has skipped the part that determines how the surface lasts.

The variables here are different from those on a new build. What matters is how much of the old pool has to come out before anything new goes in, whether the structure is sound or needs repair once it is exposed, the finish chosen and the substrate it has to go onto, how far the circulation and plant are being rebuilt rather than reused, how much new electrical work falls inside the pool zones and therefore attracts the Section 702 requirements, and whether access allows plant and materials to reach the pool without hand-balling everything down a garden. Ground conditions and the water table can also add work that nobody could see at survey stage.

LokalMatch exists to put you in front of the people who do this work. Describe the pool, its age and construction, and what you want changed, once, with your postcode, and renovation firms working in your area will contact you directly. Using it costs homeowners nothing, and the firms pay for the enquiries they receive. LokalMatch does not do renovation work, plays no part in pricing, and does not vet, rank or recommend the businesses that reply, so comparing specifications and confirming who is doing the electrical design remains your job.