We design and build pools where the water spills over one or more edges: infinity pools that merge with the sea or the valley, perimeter overflow pools with a mirror effect and shallow reflecting pools, complete with their balance tank and any retaining walls the hillside calls for.
In an overflow pool the water level sits at the height of the edge and spills over continuously into a collection channel. From there it flows into a balance tank, a buried reservoir from which the filtration system draws it, filters it and returns it to the pool. If the overflow is on the side facing the view, we call it an infinity pool: from the terrace, the surface of the water seems to carry on into the sea. If it spills over all the way round, the surface sits flush with the coping, like a mirror.
This is a type of pool that doesn't forgive mistakes. The edge has to be level to the millimetre, the balance tank must absorb the water displaced by bathers without overflowing or leaving the pump running dry, and on hillside plots retaining walls have to be built to hold up both the shell and the ground. We have spent 15 years on the Costa Blanca getting these details right at sea-view villas, on stepped terraces and in gardens that drop down towards the coast.
We handle the hydraulic design, excavation, walls, gunite spraying, channel, edge, finish and commissioning, and we coordinate the whole structural side with your architect or engineer so the pool and the hillside work together.
These are the jobs we are asked for most around the province. If yours looks like one of them, call us and we will tell you how we would handle it.
The edge facing the view is lowered and the water falls in a thin sheet down a wall into a hidden channel, so from the terrace or the living room you can't see where the pool ends. What makes it work is studying the view: we check where you will be looking from, how high your eyes are when sitting and standing and where the horizon line falls, and we place the edge so it meets the sea rather than the neighbour's roof or the road.
The water spills over all four sides into a grated overflow channel running round the whole shell, and the surface sits level with the pool surround. Seen from the house, the pool becomes a mirror reflecting the façade, the trees and the sky. The constant overflow also carries floating leaves, dust and sun cream residue into the channel, so the top layer of water is always clean. It demands perfectly flat coping and an overflow channel properly sized for the flow rate.
It is the heart of any overflow pool and where most mistakes are made. We calculate it from the surface area of the pool, the number of bathers who may get in at once, wind-driven waves and rainwater, so it never overflows or runs empty and the pump never sucks in air. We build it in waterproofed concrete, with an access hatch, a safety overflow and automatic top-up, next to the plant room and at a level that lets the water reach it by gravity.
On sloping plots the pool rests on the hillside and the side facing the sea is left suspended. That side needs a retaining wall to carry the shell, the water and the pressure of the ground, founded on firm soil and drained at the back so rain doesn't load it. We define the structure with your architect or engineer, excavate in terraces so as not to destabilise the slope and spray the shell tied into the wall, so the two work as a single piece.
A shallow sheet of water that spills over its edges and covers part of a terrace, an entrance or the front of a porch, more for looking at and cooling the air than for swimming. It weighs far less than a pool, but it is still a load on the floor slab, so we check the structure and the waterproofing that will go underneath with your architect or engineer. We build it with a very shallow basin, a hidden overflow, a small balance tank and recirculation that stops the water warming up and turning green in the sun.
When the view opens up in two directions, we overflow on both sides facing it and the corner seems to float in mid-air. It requires an L-shaped channel, a continuous spillway wall and both edges levelled to exactly the same height.
The water that falls over the infinity edge is collected in a channel at the foot of the wall, with its grating and return pipe to the balance tank. We size it with enough fall and cross-section for the flow rate and leave it accessible for cleaning.
The wall the water slides down is the face of the pool seen from the garden below. We clad it in stone, glass mosaic or porcelain, with a smooth texture if you want a clear curtain of water or a rough one if you'd rather the water bubbled as it falls.
For design-led perimeter overflow pools, we hide the channel under the coping and leave only a fine slot for the water to slip through. The pool looks like a block of water flush with the surround, with no visible grating, and the channel can still be accessed.
If the edge is even slightly out of level, the water only falls along one stretch and the rest stays dry and stained with limescale. We laser-level the edge coping, grind the pieces true and fine-tune the flow with the pool full before signing it off.
The murmur of water is relaxing by day, but at night it can be a nuisance on a quiet urbanisation. We adjust the height of the drop, finish the channel so the water doesn't splash hard and programme the overflow to stop overnight.
The levante, the easterly wind, pushes the water towards one side of the pool: it can leave one edge dry and make the opposite one suddenly spill over and splash the surround. We orient the overflow, give the balance tank extra margin and shelter the most exposed side with low walls or planting.
The waterfall and the constantly moving surface evaporate more than a skimmer pool. We cut losses with a short drop, by stopping the overflow when nobody is around and with a cover or blanket when the pool is not in use, which makes a difference in summer and in droughts.
If your pool already faces the sea, we turn one of its sides into an infinity edge: we lower and strengthen the wall, build the channel and the balance tank, seal off the skimmers and redo the coping. It is a bespoke job that starts from the existing shell.
Level sensors open the top-up valve when the water drops, warn you if the balance tank is running short and stop the pump before it runs dry. Without this control, the evaporation from one hot weekend is enough to stop the pool overflowing.
Dark greys, deep greens or black turn the water into a mirror that reflects the sky and the landscape, ideal for infinity pools and reflecting pools. We explain that dark water warms up more in the sun and shows limescale sooner, so you choose knowing how it will age.
With the hard water in the province, the edge the water spills over and the spillway wall build up white limescale rings. We prevent this with pH control, easy-to-clean tiles and balanced water from start-up, and remove it with descalers that don't damage the grout.
The strong coastal sun gradually degrades plastic overflow gratings: they yellow, turn brittle and snap when stepped on. We replace them with UV-resistant gratings in the colour and profile of the channel, and check their supports.
You don't need the sea in front of you. At country houses inland and in the Vinalopó, an overflow edge facing the valley, the almond trees or the mountains blends the pool into the landscape. We design the edge to look towards the finest spot on the property.
The warranty covers the gunite shell of your overflow pool, the part that carries the weight of the water and sits on the hillside.
An overflow pool has more line items than a standard pool: balance tank, channel, walls and level control. They are all itemised before we start, with no extras halfway through the job.
We only sign the pool off when the water falls evenly along the whole edge, with the pool full and the pump running at its working flow rate.
Overflow rate, balance volume, pipework and pump are calculated for your specific pool, so it works just as well with a single bather as with a pool full of guests.
We visit the plot, find where the pool will be viewed from, measure the slope and the horizon line and note the orientation to the sun and the levante wind.
We size the flow, the channel and the balance tank, and coordinate the retaining walls and the foundations on the hillside with your architect or engineer.
We excavate in stages, build the walls, tie the reinforcement with the pipework and channel included and spray the shell tied into the structure.
We laser-level the edge, finish the channel and the spillway wall and lay the finish and coping to match the pool surround.
We fill the pool, balance the water, adjust the flow until the sheet of water falls evenly and programme the level control and the overnight shutdown.
The Costa Blanca is infinity pool country because so many of its villas sit on hillsides looking out over the Mediterranean: Altea Hills, Calpe, Benissa, Jávea or Cumbre del Sol in Benitatxell. Many are built on old farming terraces, with stepped levels where the pool takes the one with the best view and the spillway wall faces the garden below. There the challenge is structural and about drainage: in a gota fría storm the whole hillside sheds water at once, so the back of the walls has to drain and run-off from the plot must be diverted before it reaches the channel.
The climate has its say too. The strong sun and the levante wind increase evaporation, limescale from the hard water leaves rings on the edge and the salt air on the seafront is hard on gratings and metal fittings. On top of that, many of these homes belong to European residents who spend months away, so automatic level control is no luxury. We can also help you in English and German, and we talk directly to your architect or engineer so the design reaches the site without misunderstandings.
Hotel and holiday-apartment pools in Benidorm, hillside villas in Altea and Finestrat, and homes among the pines in La Nucía and Polop. We look after your pool even if you spend half the year away, and we build infinity pools wherever the terrain gets tricky.
Benidorm · Rincón de Loix · Altea · Altea Hills
Fixed written quote and a reply within 24 hours in season. Call us or message us on WhatsApp, in English, Spanish or German.
Frequently asked questions
What people ask us most about infinity pools.
In an infinity pool the water only spills over the side facing the view, usually falling down a wall into a hidden channel, and the rest of the pool has standard coping. In a perimeter overflow pool it spills over the whole outline into a channel with a grating or slot, and the surface sits flush with the surround. The first is all about the view; the second, about the mirror effect and very clean surface water.
It is a tank that collects the overflowing water and holds it so the filtration system can pump it back. It absorbs the water displaced by bathers, whipped up by the wind and brought in by rain. It is buried close to the plant room, below the level of the channel so the water flows in by gravity, and has an access hatch for cleaning it and reaching the sensors.
Almost always. The overflow side usually stands above ground level and has to carry the weight of the water and the pressure of the earth behind it. Its design and foundations are defined by your architect or engineer, and we build it in coordination with them: staged excavation, steel reinforcement, drainage behind the wall and a gunite shell that works together with the wall.
A little more than a skimmer pool, because moving water evaporates more and the pump has to handle the overflow. It is easy to keep in check: a variable-speed pump, a short drop, stopping the overflow when nobody is swimming and covering the pool in the months it isn't used all cut the cost considerably. We leave the programming set to the way you use your pool.
Rain falling on the pool and the surround ends up in the channel and the balance tank, which fills very quickly in a gota fría storm. That is why we build it with a safety overflow connected to the drain, and give the surround a fall so water running down the plot doesn't enter the channel carrying soil and leaves.
Custom gunite pools for houses and villas: free-form shapes, Roman steps, benches and pool surrounds, even on sloping plots.
See pool constructionVariable-speed pumps, sand or glass media filters, control panels, LED lights and robotic cleaners: your filtration system properly sized and in order.
See pumps, filters and filtrationMade-to-measure telescopic enclosures, automatic slatted covers, winter and safety covers: less evaporation, less dirt and a longer season.
See pool enclosures and covers
