Swimming pools and LEED/BREEAM Standards: how to earn credits for certification

Integrating a swimming pool into a sustainability-driven project can, at first, seem like a complex challenge. An aquatic facility requires water, energy, technical systems, specific materials and careful long-term management. For this reason, in many certified projects, the swimming pool is still perceived as a possible obstacle to achieving LEED certification or BREEAM certification.

In reality, the perspective can be different.

When designed from the earliest stages with efficiency, durability and consumption control in mind, a swimming pool can contribute to the overall environmental strategy of a building. Its impact does not depend only on the presence of water, but on the technical solutions adopted, the choice of materials, the management of systems and the documentation available to demonstrate the project’s performance.

In this sense, sports pools, wellness spaces, pools for hotels and resorts, waterparks and public aquatic facilities can become an active part of the certification pathway. The most relevant contributions concern four main areas: water efficiency, energy performance, documented materials and innovation.

In summary
A swimming pool can contribute to a LEED or BREEAM project when it is designed from the outset with water efficiency, energy performance, documented materials and innovation strategies in mind. Credits are not automatically assigned to the pool itself, but to the project as a whole. This is why the choice of technologies, technical documentation and coordination with the LEED AP or BREEAM Assessor are essential.

Before understanding how a swimming pool can support the achievement of credits, it is useful to clarify the meaning of the two main international protocols.

LEED certification, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is one of the world’s best-known rating systems for sustainable buildings. Developed by USGBC, the protocol is based on mandatory prerequisites and optional credits, and is also applied in Italy through GBC Italia. The score achieved by the project determines the final certification level: Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum.

For anyone asking what a LEED certificate is, the concept can be summarised as follows: it is a recognition that measures and verifies the environmental performance of a building according to shared criteria, from water management and energy to materials and indoor environmental quality.

In simple terms, LEED certification assesses how sustainable a building is based on measurable criteria, while BREEAM measures the environmental performance of a project through weighted categories and independent verification.

BREEAM, which stands for Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method, is a protocol created in the United Kingdom and now widely used internationally, including across Europe and Asia-Pacific markets, particularly for commercial buildings, hospitality facilities, sports complexes and large-scale projects. Its assessment is also based on different environmental categories, with a weighting and scoring system that measures the overall quality of the project.

Alongside LEED and BREEAM, some projects may also include the WELL protocol, which focuses more specifically on people’s wellbeing, indoor environmental quality and user experience. WELL does not replace LEED or BREEAM, but it can be complementary, especially in spaces where health, comfort and physical activity play a central role.

In all these systems, water and energy management carry particular weight. This is precisely where a well-designed swimming pool can make a difference: not as a negative factor, but as a measurable part of the building’s environmental performance.

A swimming pool does not automatically generate LEED credits. Its contribution depends on the rating system used, the version of the protocol, the type of building, the project goals and the technical documentation available.

For this reason, the points indicated below should not be read as points directly assigned to the swimming pool. They refer to the maximum score of the LEED categories in which an aquatic facility can contribute, when properly integrated into the building’s certification strategy.

In the LEED BD+C system, the most relevant categories for a swimming pool are generally Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, Innovation and, in some cases, Sustainable Sites. The actual contribution must always be verified by the design team and the LEED AP according to the specific project.

Water Efficiency

Category worth up to 11 points

The Water Efficiency category is one of the most important for an aquatic facility. In this area, a swimming pool can support the achievement of credits through solutions that reduce water consumption, improve leak control and optimise system management.

In a project with a swimming pool, the most relevant aspects may include limiting water loss, the quality of waterproofing systems, the efficiency of recirculation and filtration systems, the reduction of top-ups, consumption monitoring and proper water management during operation.

A swimming pool built with industrialised systems and high-precision components can offer significant advantages compared with more traditional solutions, especially in terms of control, durability and predictability of performance. This is a key point for those who want to understand how to obtain LEED certification when an aquatic facility is part of the project.

Energy and Atmosphere

Category worth up to 33 points

The Energy and Atmosphere category evaluates the energy efficiency of the building and its technical systems. In the case of a swimming pool, water temperature control, ventilation in indoor environments, filtration and air treatment require particularly careful design.

A swimming pool can support the project’s energy strategy when it integrates solutions designed to reduce heat loss, evaporation, system loads and overall energy demand. The most relevant elements include pool covers to limit heat loss and evaporation, efficient overflow and recirculation systems, plant systems coordinated with the building’s energy management and design choices that reduce the need for extraordinary maintenance.

For indoor pools, evaporation, humidity and air treatment directly influence the building’s energy consumption. Integrated design makes it possible to assess these aspects from the earliest stages, avoiding solutions that are added later and are more difficult to document.

Materials and Resources

Category worth up to 13 points

The Materials and Resources category concerns the selection of materials, their life cycle, durability, potential reuse and the management of resources used in construction.

For a swimming pool, this category is particularly relevant. The materials used for the pool tank and its components can support the overall project strategy, especially when they are documented, durable, traceable and designed to reduce replacement works over time.

Modular stainless-steel technologies, for example, can offer advantages linked to prefabrication, component precision, reduced on-site works and more efficient material management. Waterproofing systems, membranes and technical accessories can also be included in the assessment, provided they are supported by technical documentation consistent with the protocol requirements.

In this category, the point is not simply to choose a “sustainable” material in general terms. It is to demonstrate, through data and technical sheets, that each component contributes to a more efficient, controlled and durable construction process.

Indoor Environmental Quality

Category worth up to 16 points

The Indoor Environmental Quality category concerns the quality of indoor spaces. In the case of indoor pools, comfort, air quality, humidity, light and spatial perception directly affect the user experience.

The choices related to the pool can support this category when they help improve humidity management, reduce evaporation, create healthier and more controllable environments, enhance the perceived quality of the space and improve the integration between pool, building systems and architecture.

In this area, the swimming pool becomes part of the overall comfort of the building. It is not only a technical element, but a space that influences wellbeing, safety and the quality of the experience.

Sustainable Sites

Category worth up to 10 points

The Sustainable Sites category may be relevant especially for outdoor pools, aquatic centres, resorts and waterparks. The contribution depends on the relationship between the project and its context: surface management, site impact, drainage, accessibility and integration with the landscape.

A swimming pool can be part of a broader strategy when the project considers responsible land use, stormwater management, reduced construction impact and the relationship with outdoor spaces.

In this case, value is not generated by the pool alone, but by the way it is integrated into the overall project.

Innovation

Category worth up to 6 points

The Innovation category rewards solutions that introduce particularly advanced design strategies or performance levels beyond standard requirements.

For swimming pools, this category can be relevant when the project demonstrates an innovative approach to sustainability, modularity, circularity, material reuse or reducing the overall life-cycle impact.

A concrete example is temporary pools created for major sporting events and later dismantled, transferred and reinstalled in other communities. In these cases, the swimming pool is no longer only an event-related infrastructure, but a reusable asset capable of extending its value over time.

One of the most complex aspects of certification-oriented projects is not only choosing the right technical solutions, but demonstrating their contribution within the protocol.

For this reason, Myrtha Pools has developed a mapping of its technologies against LEED, BREEAM and Green Star protocols. This means that designers, architects, LEED AP consultants, developers and operators do not have to start from scratch when analysing the contribution of the swimming pool. They can refer to structured technical documentation designed to connect pool components with the categories and credits of the main international standards.

It is important to clarify one point: neither LEED nor BREEAM certifies a single product or technology in isolation. Certification applies to the project as a whole. For this reason, it is more accurate to speak about technologies that can support the achievement of credits, when they are properly integrated into the overall building assessment and accompanied by the required documentation.

Myrtha’s mapping covers several elements of the system, including modular stainless-steel panels, Myrtha Evolution waterproofing systems, pool covers, the patented overflow channel, accessories and solutions for pool efficiency.

Depending on the project and the documentation required, these components can support the achievement of credits in categories related to water, energy, materials, environmental quality and innovation. The availability of technical reports downloadable from the sustainable buildings page allows design teams to integrate the swimming pool more easily into the certification strategy.

This approach is useful for different types of projects: from sports pools to hospitality facilities, from wellness spaces to leisure pools. In all these contexts, the swimming pool can play a central role in the user experience, but it must be carefully designed to avoid becoming a critical issue from an environmental perspective.

A significant case is the swimming pools of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The temporary pools built for the event were designed to be dismantled and reinstalled after the Games, with 80% of the materials expected to be reused. This is a concrete example of circularity applied to a sports infrastructure: a solution that reduces waste, extends the useful life of components and can support strategies linked to the Innovation and Materials and Resources categories, when properly documented within the certified project.

In this sense, the Myrtha approach to sustainability is not limited to the choice of materials, but concerns the entire life cycle of the swimming pool: design, construction, operation, maintenance, potential reuse and technical documentation.

To learn more, visit the page dedicated to the mapping of Myrtha technologies against LEED, BREEAM and Green Star protocols and discover the innovative solutions developed to make aquatic facilities more efficient and sustainable.

Obtaining LEED certification with a swimming pool or wellness space requires a structured approach. The pool must be considered from the beginning as part of the building’s environmental strategy, not as an element to be integrated after the main design choices have already been made.

The first step is to register the project on the platform required by the protocol, such as LEED Online or the tools indicated by GBC Italia depending on the context. At this stage, the most suitable rating system is defined and the potentially achievable credits are identified.

The second step is the analysis of the credits linked to the swimming pool. The design team, together with the LEED AP, assesses which categories may be involved: water, energy, materials, indoor environmental quality and innovation. This is where the technical documentation of the components becomes essential.

The third step is the integration of requirements into the design. Many credits cannot be addressed retrospectively, because they require design choices, technical specifications and monitoring systems to be defined before construction. A swimming pool cannot be “retro-certified” if the data, technical sheets, calculations or evidence required by the protocol are missing.

The fourth step concerns the construction phase. During construction, it is necessary to collect and retain useful documentation: materials used, technical sheets, declarations, installation data, any certifications and information on plant systems.

The fifth step is the commissioning of systems, which is particularly important for indoor pools, sports centres and wellness facilities. Commissioning verifies that the systems operate as intended and that the designed performance can actually be achieved in operation.

Finally, the project is submitted for review by the competent body, with the documentation required to demonstrate compliance with the selected prerequisites and credits.

In this process, the role of the LEED AP is central. This professional coordinates the process, interprets the protocol requirements, supports the team in selecting credits and verifies that the documentation is consistent with the certification objectives.

It is also important to clarify a commonly misunderstood point: LEED credits should not be considered generic elements that are always valid. They must be verified against the version of the rating system, the applicable registration and certification deadlines, and the rules in force at the time of the project. This is why it is essential to plan the process from the beginning and maintain organised documentation throughout all phases.

A swimming pool should not automatically be considered a critical element for the environmental certification of a building. On the contrary, when designed with efficient technologies, documented materials and an integrated vision, it can support the achievement of LEED and BREEAM credits in the most relevant categories: water, energy, materials and innovation.

The key is to act at the right time. Technical choices must be made during the initial design phase, when it is still possible to define materials, systems, plant requirements, management strategies and documentation. Acting later often means losing credit opportunities or making the verification process more complex.

Myrtha Pools supports designers, consultants and developers with a mapping of its technologies against the main international protocols, simplifying the integration of the swimming pool into sustainability-oriented projects. This makes it possible to approach certification with greater clarity and to highlight the real contribution of the aquatic facility.

In a sports centre, hotel, resort or public facility, a properly designed swimming pool can be much more than an additional function: it can become a strategic asset for user wellbeing, building quality and the environmental goals of the project.

To assess the contribution of a Myrtha swimming pool to your certification pathway, contact our technical team: request a consultation