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About Us

Formed in 1974, ROD is an independently owned, director-led company with offices in Leeds and Dublin. Our 225-strong team is recognised for delivering quality bridge and highway projects that create real and lasting value for our clients and the communities they serve. 

Our current and recent projects include Herring Bridge, Great Yarmouth’s Third River Crossing; Clyde Waterfront and Renfrew Riverside project, Scotland; the A6 Dungiven to Drumahoe Dualling scheme, Northern Ireland; and the Humber Bridge Maintenance Operation, England. 

Our work has been recognised for its design excellence, winning many prestigious industry awards in the UK and Ireland including:

  • Healthcare Project of the Year 2022 at the Irish Building and Design Awards for the National Children’s Hospital Satellite Centre Tallaght, Dublin 
  • CEEQUAL Excellent Sustainability Whole Team Award 2022 for the A6 Randalstown to Castledawson ECI, Northern Ireland
  • Project of the Year 2021 at the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland (ACEI) Awards  for the Motorway Operations Control Centre, Dublin
  • ICE North East Special 30th Anniversary Robert Stephenson Award 2021 for Northern Spire Bridge, Sunderland

While we are justly proud of our work on high-profile projects, such as the iconic Northern Spire Bridge, we treat smaller projects with the same level of respect, recognising that they too present unique, technical challenges. 

Alongside our prestigious projects, we are particularly proud of our various commissions to develop the Irish Design Manual for Roads and Bridges, the Manual of Contract Documents for Road Works and the Irish National Annexes to the Eurocodes, in each case dissecting the established UK standards and adapting them to Irish conditions. This work provided the backbone for the Irish motorway and inter-urban road network, which has been designed and delivered over the past 20 years, giving our teams based in Ireland a detailed knowledge and understanding of the UK standards.

We are strongly committed to supporting our clients through the complex development process to create structures that are environmentally, economically and socially sustainable. We use the latest technologies and techniques to reduce material consumption and embedded carbon, increase flexibility of use and extend the lifespan of our solutions. Our experts ensure real value is extracted from infrastructure assets by reducing premature replacement of existing structures, optimising maintenance expenditure, improving asset reliability and availability and extending the service life of assets.

Our experience of liaising with architects, local authorities, contractors, and planning and heritage agencies allows us to develop practical infrastructure solutions that meet the needs of our clients and sit comfortably within their environment and surrounding communities.

rod office

Our Employees

At ROD, we believe that it is the talent, energy and commitment our people bring to our business that make us who we are. Highly qualified and hugely talented, our multidisciplinary team is driven to achieve, both personally and professionally, and dedicated to making a difference in society by developing solutions that are environmentally, economically and socially sustainable.

Our engineers are passionate about design, skilled at coping with challenging sites, and experienced in delivering projects with restricted budgets and tight timescales. Their readiness to adopt new technologies and manipulate new and traditional materials allows us to create structures that push the boundaries of design to deliver world-class, sustainable solutions.

ROD team

Office Culture 

ROD is a friendly company where collaboration is encouraged, commitments are honoured and achievements are celebrated. We foster a supportive and open culture, embracing diversity, championing inclusivity and treating everyone with respect. 

The shared ownership of project outcomes is fundamental to our approach. Our company directors are actively involved in our projects, working closely with project engineers and project technicians on all aspects of project delivery.

ROD

Career Development 

Our people are the heart of our business, and we invest heavily in their personal and professional development through all stages of career development. We are an Engineers Ireland CPD Accredited Employer and operate an Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) training scheme.

In addition to working on technically complex projects that excite and challenge you, you will develop your leadership skills by managing projects, guiding teams, mentoring staff, building relationships with clients and supporting the growth of our business.

Our Values 

We strive for excellence in the pursuit of the best interests of our clients and colleagues. We are curious and innovative, ready to push the boundaries of design. We are principled and pragmatic. We care about the communities we serve. 

We take an active role in industry-wide initiatives aimed at raising the profile of the engineering profession and invest considerable resources in schools’ initiatives aimed at encouraging more students into engineering, such as Engineers Ireland’s STEPS programme.

We encourage our team to make their skills, experience and time available to those in society who are most in need, wherever they are in our global community. Employees wishing to volunteer for charities such as Engineers Without Borders, Bridges to Prosperity and Habitat for Humanity are supported in carrying out non-feepaying work during regular work time.

habitat for humanity

Meet the team

Jim Thorpe
Jim Thorpe
Managing Director

Jim was appointed to the role of managing director in 2021, having previously served as company secretary and a director of the company. He has more than 35 years’ transportation design and project management experience and has worked on road, rail and bridge projects in the UK, Ireland and Singapore. 

Jim has led several significant transportation projects in the UK and Ireland, including ROD’s commission to adapt the UK standards for Ireland, multidisciplinary independent check of the detailed design of the M8/M73/M74 upgrade in Scotland and road works design for Herring Bridge, Great Yarmouth.
 

Aonghus
Aonghus O'Keeffe
Director

Aonghus has over 15 years' experience serving public and private sector clients in the UK, Ireland and Europe. In addition to overseeing the delivery of major infrastructure projects from feasibility through to construction supervision, Aonghus leads our BIM and asset information management services. He contributes to BIM standardisation at European level.

John
John Collins
Associate

John leads our UK bridges team in Leeds. Since joining ROD in 2019, he has worked on a broad range of technically challenging transportation projects, including the Humber Bridge, Forth Road Bridge, Great Yarmouth Third River Crossing, and strengthening and refurbishment to steel, concrete and masonry arch bridges.

Peter
Peter Campbell
Senior Structural Engineer

Peter has over 16 years’ experience in civil and structural engineering. He has worked in the bridges, rail, healthcare, further education, residential and industrial sectors. His experience encompasses existing and new bridges, including the Humber Bridge, reinforced and precast concrete bridges, masonry arch bridges, DART+ West and the Great Yarmouth Third River Crossing.

Roque
Inês Roque Domingues
Senior Engineer

Inês studied civil engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, before completing a double master's degree in structural engineering at Lisbon University and Politecnico di Milano in Italy. Since joining ROD in 2019, she has been involved in several complex bridge projects, including the Clyde Swing Bridge, the Waterford Sustainable Transport Bridge and the Narrow Water Bridge.

Head Office