5 Reasons to Add Hard Sides to Your Fabric Solutions

You don’t need a general contractor and a year of lead time to build a structure that lasts.

Hard-sided solutions provide the durability of more permanent structures with the flexibility and efficiency of a temporary structure. At Sunbelt Rentals, our optional Guardian Steel Walls™ can add even more resilience to your temporary solutions. This add-on is particularly popular in the construction and manufacturing industries with longer-term projects. Companies choose hard-sided sidewalls for their temporary structures when they need solutions that are semi-permanent, rather than temporary.

Wondering if hard-sided solutions are the right fit for your business? Here are five benefits of these upgraded solutions.

Topics: Custom Structures Lunch and Break Tent Manufacturing Extreme Weather Structures

Unique Use Cases for Custom Fabric Structures

When you embark on a new project, your needs can change quickly. Suddenly you may find yourself renovating a building with no protection from the winter weather, stuck with limited workspace and new pandemic guidelines for your employees or in immediate need of temporary storage for a highly-sensitive product. You need a solution to keep things on track — and fast.

Enter: Sunbelt Rentals Fabric Structures.

Our clear span fabric structures can be completely customized, able to adapt to the quickly-changing needs of your project. We can build a structure to fit any space — whether you need to attach it to an existing building or even place one on top of a skyscraper. Your custom fabric structure can include virtually any accessory system the project may require, such as flooring, lighting and climate control. And when you need to expand, reduce, dismantle or relocate it, these structures can be quickly redesigned to match your new needs.

Though used for temporary purposes, fabric structures have a longer lifespan than steel, able to last for 20 years without needing repairs from rust or corrosion. They’ll even withstand heavy snow, rain and wind so that your project stays on schedule.

Custom fabric structures are commonly used as temporary warehouses, aircraft hangars, base camps, living facilities and lunch tents. However, the uses don’t stop there. When it comes to our custom clear-span fabric structures and expert team, the sky is the limit. Here are four unique use cases for custom fabric structures:

Topics: Business Continuity Custom Structures Construction and Maintenance Covers

Top Four Reasons to Choose Fabric Structures

When your team is considering what kind of temporary building is best suited for your job or event needs, there are a multitude of reasons why temporary fabric structures are the answer for you. All framed buildings apply the same basic engineering principles but no matter what you’re using the building for, you want it to be constructed quickly, efficiently and up to your expectations.

Topics: Clearspan Fabric Structure Temporary Warehouses and Storage Custom Structures

The Pitfalls of Downtime - Ensuring Your Temporary Structure Performs Even In High Wind Conditions

The most dreaded pitfall of any manufacturer or construction company is downtime. Any industry leader will confirm that the unplanned stop of production is the single most significant loss of money, man-hours, and efficiency.

Topics: Emergency Shelters Temporary Warehouses and Storage Custom Structures Construction and Maintenance Covers Manufacturing

Customize Your Temporary Structure for Success from the Ground Up

A temporary structure is often the most economical and ideal solution for industrial construction and manufacturing needs. Customization turns a basic structure design into the exact application you need for your project. 

Topics: Custom Structures

History in the Making: Temporary Fabric Structure Innovations, Part 1

“There’s a way to do it better. Find it.” These words, attributed to Thomas Edison, are a solid reminder that if you’re doing things the way they’ve always been done, there’s almost certainly a better way.

Consider a time when massive, solid 40-foot posts used to support pole tents were put up completely manually by a large crew using little more than a lot of rope. Sure, it worked. But in 1939, Sunbelt Rentals found a way to improve the process. And this improvement resulted in a better end-product and reduced installation time as well as cost-savings for the customer.

One seemingly cardinal business truth that has stood the test of time is: Companies that stand still risk extinction. Customers rightfully expect more from their suppliers and service-providers. Innovative companies are successful because they deliver the superior products and services their customers are looking for.

In Part 1 of this two-part series, learn about Sunbelt Rentals' first 50 years of innovative solutions. These solutions revolutionized what customers have come to expect from a temporary structure provider.

Topics: Clearspan Fabric Structure Custom Structures

Winter is coming: Now is the time to protect your worksite

Winter will be here before we know it, and now is the time to plan for the harsh climates and unpredictable precipitation that come with it.

Topics: Business Continuity Custom Structures Amenities

Solutions on the Go: Mobile Temporary Structures

In instances of extreme weather or growth, a company may decide it’s time to relocate. Temporary fabric structures are the optimal solution when a project needs to change locations (or expand its current one). Modular fabric tents are completely portable, and can be quickly installed and dismantled. Crews can complete a typical installation of 10,000 square feet per day, something that would not be possible with a brick-and-mortar building.  

Topics: Clearspan Fabric Structure Environmental Containment Custom Structures Amenities

Climate-Controlled Events

Imagine, you’re enjoying your favorite band at a renowned outdoor music festival on a hot summer day. Then, the sky suddenly darkens and you hear the rumblings of thunder in the distance.

Topics: Entertainment and Events Custom Structures Extreme Weather Structures

Temporary Turnarounds Call For Temporary Fabric Structures

Refineries, petrochemical and chemical process plants operate around the clock, so it’s unsurprising periodic maintenance is required to keep operations running smoothly. Turnarounds — planned, periodic shutdowns of the processing unit for maintenance — are temporary by nature. Each shutdown is a unique undertaking, rarely performed by the same team, in the same environment or in the same way. That’s why choosing the right company to cover your worksite and protect and assist your employees is imperative to turnaround success.

Plant turnaround maintenance demands a huge amount of planning and manpower due to the sheer volume of maintenance activities that must be completed in a short timeframe. Hundreds of thousands of man-hours may be required, depending on the volume of the work and the window of opportunity.

Since turnarounds involve a myriad of interrelated activities performed at the same time, in the same place and often on different levels of the plant, it’s crucial to provide adequate shelter and space for increased staff and materials. Too many employees working in one area can cause congestion, which increases the chance of accidents, conflicts, errors or confusion, which can stifle operational efficiency and pose a real danger to your turnaround crews. Furthermore, keeping increased staff and materials on-site and close to their work can help increase productivity and keep your operations on track.

When selecting a provider for temporary turnaround structures, you’ll want to find a company that draws from decades of experience and understands:

  • Differences between blast and non-blast shelters. Temporary fabric structures are more like traditional buildings than you might think. Many of these engineered structures can be equipped with HVAC, lighting and virtually any accessory found in new construction, from flooring to water services and everything in between. They offer on-site, climate-controlled accommodation for turnarounds and plant shutdowns, as well as severe weather solutions that can withstand extreme temperatures, heavy snow, rain or wind. Highly specialized blast-resistant tents take these protections a step further, keeping your No. 1 asset — your workforce — safe and secure on hazardous worksites, while still meeting your production goals.
  • API Recommended Practice (RP) 756. This RP provides guidance for managing risks from explosions, fires and toxic material releases to on-site personnel located in tents by providing the guidelines for blast-resistant shelters. Tents that meet API RP 756 standards allow you to position break areas closer to process areas without risking the safety of your crews, which equates to maximum wrench time, flexibility, cost savings and break time. Newer blast-resistant tents can be scaled to meet your needs — 80-500 workers or more — providing a larger footprint to accommodate more people in a single space. Compared to a modular building with smaller capacity for personnel, you would need a great deal more traditional blast-resistant modules.
  • Importance of lightning protection. Lightning strikes are responsible for directly causing fires, explosions, dangerous chemical releases and critical mechanical disruptions. By implementing a two-part protection plan in the construction of a temporary structure — a process that protects both the structure and the internal electrical system — many lightning-related problems can be avoided. A fabric structure lightning protection system intercepts bursts of energy from lightning strikes and conducts them toward the ground, where they are safely dispersed within the earth. With the energy diverted, the structure and all that is within it, including the electrical system, remain safe.

When seeking temporary and semi-permanent industrial fabric structures, look for a company with a documented history of innovation and excellence that you can count on to provide safe and compliant tent solutions, no matter how big or small your project’s needs. Such a company should hold ISNetworld, HAZWOPER, TWIC, DISA (Defense Information Systems Agency), PICS (Pacific Industrial Contractor Screening) and OSHA certifications, as well as site-specific credentials, to ensure the safety of its employees and your workforce on-site.

This article originally appeared in BIC Magazine.

Interested in learning more about our fabric structures and the other services we provide? Contact us today!

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Topics: Clearspan Fabric Structure Custom Structures Amenities