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Matty, I consider that it's worthwhile keeping the thermal mass of the observatory and its equipment as low as is reasonably practical. By doing this, the observatory itself and the equipment within will reach thermal equilibrium with the atmosphere sooner as the evening cools down, and therefore not create as much localised turbulence in the atmosphere.
Having said this, some items, such as the pier, need to be "solid" (some would debate this, but that's another topic), but all is not lost, since it is a simple matter to wrap some insulation around a pier. This will also stop it gaining some heat during the day.
My pier is also solid concrete and will have a steel pipe extension on top. The pipe is somewhat thicker walled than I wanted (don't kick a gift horse in the mouth) so I will wrap some foam rubber or similar around it, then maybe a layer of thin carpet around that.
Cheers, Chris
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