Desco Guest Speaker at The One Swim England Summit
Desco’s Danny Strickland and Steven Sibley will be guest speakers at the first Swim England Summit in Birmingham.
The One Swim England Summit on 19th March 2026 will bring together the wider swimming pool industry, including operators, asset owners, architects, consultants, and project teams – for a day of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and forward-thinking discussion.
Danny and Steven will be hosting one of the sessions, ‘Staying Afloat: Managing Operational Costs Through Smart Energy Design’. The UK’s aquatic sector is currently facing a pivotal moment, as swimming pools are among the most energy-demanding public assets, challenged by rising fuel costs. They will explore the transition from outdated, inefficient designs to modern, high-performance facilities.
They will discuss some of Desco’s work with Sport England, including supporting the development of the Swimming Pool Support Fund (SPSF), an £80m government funded programme which assisted operational public leisure centres and swimming pools in England, to reduce running costs and carbon emissions. Both Steven and Danny were instrumental in the development and implementation of the fund, working closely with Sport England throughout.
Steven and Danny will also discuss the work they have undertaken for Sport England in re-writing the soon to be published Swimming Pool Design Guide Update. The new guide includes a section on refurbishments and how the services design changes its focus for an existing building.
Finally, they will explore how refurbished versus new build swimming pools perform from a whole life carbon perspective, another piece of work Desco undertook with Sport England.
The event will provide practical insight and strategic direction for anyone shaping the future of aquatic facilities, alongside real world experience, and fresh perspectives.
We’re looking forward to attending, by coming together collectively we can inspire one another to implement sustainable practices that will benefit both the environment and the communities we live in.