A feature of the Auckland Council's popular Albany recreational pool is the changing room and ablution facility 'village' concept. Popular in Europe and the UK, but a first for New Zealand, the design provides changing rooms with doors colour coded according to use instead of the traditional large gender-divided facilities. Toilets are also unisex and set in two rows adjacent to changing cubicles. There are two sets of open showers.

Changing room options, denoted by door colour, are single, double, family or baby. The coloured Compact Laminate doors were specially imported from Resco's supplier, and under design instructions Resco constructed extra-height Compact Laminate cubicles ensuring maximum privacy.

The result, says Albany Stadium Pool manager Tanya Langenbach, is a "fun, friendly" look with clean lines and a robust Resco system which is withstanding heavy use and the chloromide fumes which are part of the atmosphere of indoor pools.

Says Tanya, "there is some deterioration in some areas already because of the air in here, but the Resco products are showing no defects and are holding up well." The anti-bacterial and graffiti-resistant surfaces on the Resco products are also valued, Tanya notes. Up to 1,700 people a day have been using the complex on busy weekends and holidays.

The pool facility, designed specifically for recreational and family-fun use has a large leisure pool with walk in entry at one end and a depth of 2.5m at the other. It features a climbing wall and water obstacles. There is also a 20m pool which is seven lanes wide and a depth of up to 1.8m and this is well used for Learn to Swim classes.

The complex is in the same grounds as the QBE Stadium, so sports teams like the All Whites footballers have been following up training at the stadium with spa, sauna and aqua-jog sessions at the pool. Tanya Langenbach says they are also expecting the touring Lions rugby squad in after their trainings in QBE Stadium in the 2017 winter.

Resco product specialist, Troy Henriques says the Albany pool was a unique job for the company. "The finished result has that wow factor, and we are confident our solid core Compact Laminate will be robust and keep looking great there."