A Stellar Project

Published 4th August 2014

As Taziker Industrial celebrate our 20th anniversary of trading, it is fitting that we return to one of our first ever major projects. In 1995 Taziker Industrial were successful in being awarded painting works to the 250ft diameter Lovell telescope. Since then Taziker Industrial have gone on to develop a strong relationship with the client, refurbishing the entire structure in various phases over the years as well as delivering other additional radio telescope refurbishment projects.

The Lovell telescope is the third largest steerable radio telescope in the world and has been in operation for nearly sixty years, playing an important role in the research of meteors, quasars, pulsars, masers and gravitational lenses as well as tracking of space probes at the start of the Space Age. Network Scaffolding, a subsidiary of Taziker Industrial, are currently erecting access scaffolding to the structure in order to allow the University of Manchester to undertake node repairs at the rear of the dish.

In addition to the works to the Lovell telescope, Taziker Industrial are also carrying out a full refurbishment of the fifty-year-old Mark II telescope, which is roughly half the size of the Lovell. This will involve the utilisation of cherry pickers and rope access methods in order to mechanically prepare the surfaces back to bare steel before applying a protective coating. The two projects will be delivered simultaneously over the course of a fifteen-week programme.