He began work on the project early the following year, creating the initial drawings in January 1950 and detailed plans just over a year later. He and Lovell selected a dish diameter of 250 feet (76 metres). Construction began in 1952; despite Husband's optimism the project was beset with delays and escalating costs, caused by multiple changes to Lovell's specifications and the rising price of steel, among other factors. Wind-tunnel studies with a scale model played an important role in the final design. The telescope was eventually completed in 1957, when it was the largest fully steerable radio telescope in the world. It remains in service as of 2016. According to Lovell, the project was completed using "a desk calculator and slide rule", which led to a "sturdy" construction with "quite a lot of redundancy in the steelwork" which Lovell later credited for the telescope's longevity. The structure is a rare example of a post-war grade-I-listed structure, denoting its "exceptional interest", and was voted Britain's top "unsung landmark" in a 2006 BBC poll.