Somehow I managed to become the UK’s only designer of roll-off roof observatories – at least serious ones.
The story started in 2009, when I sold a very good telescope to a chap called Sandy who’d travelled all the way from Edinburgh to get my advice. He asked if I knew of anyone I could recommend to build him an observatory. There was only one chap building roll-off roof observatories at the time – and he was…. let’s say…. hard to recommend!
However, I had a couple of good friends who were joiners, and who’d told me, the previous day, that they were scratching around for work… how fortuitous! I immediately suggested that I design Sandy’s observatory and my friends Joe and Ryszard could build it. Soon after, it became reality:
I’ve since gone on to design and build well over 60 observatories in all corners of the UK – and two in the US – as well as a great many other specialist buildings including a satellite ground station!
Nowadays, our observatories are installed by two fantastic and experienced teams – Aaron and Dan from Cornwall, and Jeremy & Jimmy from Surrey.
We’ve recently taken on a number of larger, public-sector projects, including the Hunstanton Observatory in Norfolk, and the new Danby Dark Skies Station on the North York Moors. I’ve also consulted for a number of architects and other groups working on larger projects both in the UK and abroad, so you’ll find my fingerprints on observatories on most major continents!
For more information on my observatories, see https://outsideology.com