THE SKYShades’ FRANCHISE SYSTEM is the product of over six years’ rigorous research into the global Tension Membrane Industry, combined with more than three years’ practical implementation in the U.S.A. of a Business Model unique to that Industry.

What this research and marketplace activity revealed has been used by SKYShades to create the platform for identifying key strategies to ensure that the widespread installation of Tension Membrane structures can be performed in a profitable manner.

Though these structures have been in evidence in many parts of the world for the past three decades, the Industry itself has expanded in an ‘ad hoc’ manner up to this time. It is the launch of the SKYShades’ FRANCHISE SYSTEM which will usher in the most dramatic growth in the Industry’s history, and Franchisees will be trained and supported to help take advantage of this growth potential.

The historical ‘ad hoc’ development of the Industry has predominantly related to the difficulty in accessing specialist professionals with sufficient practical experience to carry out successfully the design, engineering, and installation processes of these dynamic structures. It must be appreciated that Tension Membrane roofing structures are ‘dynamic’, that is, capable of movement…..as opposed to the other ‘static’ construction materials of steel, concrete, glass and timber……and thus there is a critical requirement for any movement to be calibrated and controlled so that the structures do not fail. These calculations fall into the realm of specialised structural engineering professionals who are required to measure loadings and tensile prestress for certification and approval purposes.

Because the number of Tension Membrane structures requiring to be installed compared with the number of standard construction projects underway at any one time is quite small, the majority of structural engineers have been, and continue to be, content to focus on basic projects utilizing steel, concrete, glass and timber.

Notwithstanding, the growth in Tension Membrane structures world-wide has been gathering pace for a number of reasons, and this growth is challenging the limited number of experienced professionals who are crucial to provide the technological support-systems for these structures, both to appeal aesthetically and to function precisely as intended.