Stormflex was designed to replace 48- and 96-sheet blue back paste-up posters with a system that offers a more environmentally friendly solution with lower installation costs and quicker and simpler installation than the current methods.

"We wanted to make billboards higher value," said managing director Sam Cook.

"Health & Safety requirements now call for three points of contact for anyone on a ladder, and you either need two hands to put up a poster or two people, and installers can't afford two-man teams. Our solution Stormflex is a one-piece that can be posted from ground level by one person and is 10 minutes quicker per site to install."

Cook added that the system could also be used in sub-zero temperatures, which had proved a boon recently when traditional paste froze preventing installation during the critical Christmas and January sales periods.

Stormflex uses the company's Ecoflex recyclable polyethylene (PE) fabric, which is held in place by a tensioned clip system to ensure flat graphics regardless of installer expertise. The clip system also eliminates the need for seams, welds and eyelets to be applied after printing, cutting 40% from production costs.

The firm will sell the Stormflex system to other printers who want to move into the one-piece market.

"We'll offer it to anyone who can help grow the market," said Cook. "By lowering the cost of outdoor advertising it will increase the volume in the market."

The launch follows a year of trials during which time the firm has perfected the system to eliminate creases in the poster.

As well as poster sites Cook said the system had applications for external retail point of sale replacing traditional banners held in place with eyelets with a simpler and more elegant solution.

To produce the single-piece PVC skins Urban Storm has invested in a pair of Fujifilm Sericol's new Uvistar superwide format machines. The 5m machine is already running at the firm's Bristol factory, with the second 3.2m machine following in the next month.