Cutting costs… not corners… with a pre-designed standard structure

You want a tensile structure for your project – but money’s too tight to mention. One solution is choosing what we in the business imaginatively call a “Pre-designed Structure”.

No prizes for guessing that it’s something which you can effectively order off the shelf: we’ve built one like it before so we know exactly what’s involved in the design and specification… and for a smaller structure that can typically tot up to around 25% of the total cost.

No corners have been cut on the quality and while (agreed) you don’t have the full panoply of shapes and sizes available to you, for a great many applications it’s a highly workable and very attractive option. Lead times are shorter too – around 6/8 weeks instead of 10/12 weeks.

Fitting the bill

Downsides? The biggest one is that they are ‘free-standing’ designs only: they come with their own foundations but cannot be used for any location where the fixings are to existing structures, then more complex load calculations come into the equation.

But that still leaves a huge range of situations where they (literally) fit the bill: school playgrounds, office break out areas, walkways, entrance canopies, bandstands, courtyards, bike shelters, al fresco dining areas and the ilk.

Moreover, the choice of designs, colours and fabrics is now very extensive – we, for instance, currently have 22 different standard designs, in two different fabrics (PVC coated polyester and silicon coated polyester) and six different colours.

Any other caveats?

Well yes, just the one really. Do look around to get competitive quotes – it will be more straightforward than for bespoke structures. But do bear in mind that because this is an area where non-specialist suppliers also operate, buying on price alone won’t necessarily represent best value. Make sure the structure really is engineered to withstand the elements – year round – and look for warranties of at least five years.

We would always advise any prospective purchaser to ask for references too from ‘satisfied customers’, and ask for demonstration load calculations to show that the structure will do the job it’s designed to do. There are some corners you can cut in this business – but that’s not one of them.