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Crawford Italia — competition & gala pool, in Bedfordview, after completion
Commercial pool builders · Working across South Africa

Commercial swimming pools for South African schools, clubs and resorts.

It takes about a minute, and there's no obligation.

Curtis Pools has been building in gunite and marbelite since 1973. These days that means gala pools, water polo pools, learn-to-swim pools and resort pools, all built by our own crews. We’re based in Johannesburg, and for commercial work we travel to wherever in the country your site is.
Crawford Italia’s 25-metre competition pool, the one in the photograph, took us three months to build. You’ll also find our school pools in Cape Town, Durban, Newcastle and Ladysmith.
Rather talk it through first? Give us a call or send a WhatsApp.

More than fifty years of building pools, and a few names you’ll know.

Peter Curtis started Curtis Pools in 1973, and his son Russ runs it today. In the fifty-odd years between, the company has built pools and water features for schools, hotel groups, resorts and corporates around the country, and the NSPI’s judges have given that work more than twenty awards.
Crawford
Curro
Trinity
Hamiltons College
Emperors Palace
Wild Coast Sun
Investec
Joburg Zoo
What we build

The pools we build for schools, clubs and resorts

Every pool we build starts as a gunite shell and is finished in marbelite, and every one is designed around your brief and your site. We don’t work from a catalogue, so if what you have in mind isn’t quite on this list, tell us about it anyway.
01

Competition and gala pools

Lane pools with starting blocks, lane tiling and a deck that’s ready for gala day. We build them outdoors on the school grounds, or indoors under a hall roof.
Ask us about a gala pool
02

Water polo pools

Deep-water pools built to the dimensions the game calls for, like the 25-metre pool we finished for Skye College in Honeydew at the end of 2025.
Ask us about a water polo pool
03

Learn-to-swim pools

Warm, shallow pools where the little ones take their first strokes. They come with the heat pumps and covers that keep them in use right through winter.
Ask us about a learn-to-swim pool
04

Resort, hotel and estate pools

Hotel pools and lifestyle pools for estates, right through to waterparks with lazy rivers, splash pools and slide towers.
Ask us about a resort pool
05

Water features and fountains

Plaza lakes, statue fountains and rock streams. We build new ones, and we recoat tired old ones to bring them back.
Ask us about a water feature
06

Something else in mind?

An existing pool that needs renovating, or a brief that doesn’t fit any of these. Tell us what you’re thinking and we’ll take it from there.
Tell us about your project

Planning a pool for your school, club or resort?

Tell us what it needs to do and who’ll be using it. We’ll come out to site, have a proper look, and draw it up for you.
Curro St Dominic’s, Newcastle — competition & gala pool, in Newcastle, during construction
How it works

One crew, from the first cut to the first length.

Our own teams carry a commercial pool through every stage: the excavation, the steel, the gunite, the plumbing and filtration plant, the marbelite and the tiling. A school pool usually takes three to four months, depending on whether there’s a main contractor building around us, and there usually is.
Are you an architect, QS or main contractor? Here’s how we fit into a building programme.
Arrange a site visit
01

You tell us what you have in mind

The form at the top of this page takes about a minute. If you’d rather pick up the phone or send a WhatsApp, that works just as well.
02

We come out to site

We’ll walk the ground with you and listen to what the pool needs to do and who it’s for.
03

We draw it up and give you a price

Because every pool is designed for its own site, the price comes once we’ve seen the space, rather than as a number over the phone.
04

Our own crews build it

The same teams see the job through from the excavation to the tiling, and we photograph the build as it goes.
What clients say
“Russ Curtis and his team are the most professional pool builders I’ve ever met. Their workmanship and quality is outstanding and I would highly recommend Curtis Pools to anyone.”
Doug R. · Google review

Questions people ask

Does Curtis Pools build competition and gala pools?

Yes. Recent work includes a 25 m by 30 m indoor water-polo pool for a school aquatic centre in Cape Town, completed in August 2024, a new 25 m competition pool at Crawford Italia in Bedfordview, built in three months in 2022, and a 25 m water-polo pool at Skye College in Honeydew, completed in December 2025.

What commercial clients has Curtis Pools worked for?

Schools first: ADvTECH schools, Curro schools and Skye Colleges among them. Beyond that, large commercial builders and hotel groups such as Tsogo Sun and Sun International, and the resort pools and fountains at Emperors Palace.

Do you build water polo and learn-to-swim pools?

Yes. Alongside competition pools, the company builds water polo pools, learn-to-swim pools, resort pools and water features — each a gunite shell finished in marbelite, built for the traffic a public pool takes.

Can you take on a commercial project outside Gauteng?

Yes. Day-to-day residential work is Gauteng-based, but commercial projects are taken on further afield — a school aquatic centre in Cape Town, school pools in Durban, Newcastle and Ladysmith, and a hotel pool renovation in Mmabatho.

How long does a commercial pool take to build?

A school pool typically takes three to four months, depending on whether a main contractor is building around it. Two real examples: the Crawford Italia competition pool took three months, and the Cape Town aquatic centre’s water-polo pool about five.

Hamiltons College, Ladysmith — competition & gala pool, in Ladysmith, after completion
Start a project

Tell us about the pool you have in mind.

Whether you’re after a price, some advice, or a bit of both, it starts with a quick note to us. It takes about a minute.
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