ROD - Roughan & O'Donovan

Roughan and O’Donovan (ROD) is recognised as one of the leading Civil Engineering Consultancies in Ireland and has the largest bridge design team in the UK or Ireland.  Based in Dublin ROD is 100% Director owned with each client and individual project allocated a company Director.

Founded in 1974, by Joe O’Donovan and Derry Roughan, Roughan and O’Donovan began life primarily as a structural engineering consultancy undertaking the design of a vast range of building structures throughout Ireland, the UK and the Middle East.

From acorns do oak trees grow and from the first bridge designed by ROD in 1978(Knockdangan Bridge in County Mayo), ROD have gone on to design some of the most iconic bridges ever constructed in Ireland, including the M1 Boyne Bridge, William Dargan (Light Rail) Bridge, James Joyce Bridge and the Samuel Beckett Bridge where ROD were the local consultant for renowned Spanish engineer Santiago Calatrava.

Following on from the National Roads Needs Study in 1998 and the National Development Plan (2000) ROD in alliance with Maunsell (now AECOM) was appointed to the N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford Scheme, which at 110km is the largest road project ever awarded in Ireland. Over the last 20 years ROD has been involved in the design of over 170km and construction of over 285km of the Major Inter Urban (MIU) motorway network in Ireland with a construction value in excess of €2.3 billion.

During this period ROD developed to become a leading multidisciplinary consultancy offering services beyond buildings, bridge and road design. The full range of services offered includes Environmental, Geotechnical, Contract Administration and Railways, being consultants to Irish Rail for over 10 years. In 2006 the existing ROD Directors were joined by five new Directors whilst in 2009 Harry Meighan became Managing Director.

In the period since 2008 ROD Bridges has become increasingly involved in International bridge projects. Thus far ROD Bridges has undertaken bridge projects in the UK, Poland, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Malaysia, Bhutan, India and Panama. ROD Bridges are now bringing the abilities and principles of value engineering, problem solving and cooperation to clients in all corners of the globe.

A subsidiary company, ROD-IS, was established in 2009 that specialises in providing complex and innovative structural and bridge engineering solutions for the local and international market. The company is a collaboration between ROD, Professor Eugene O’Brien (University College Dublin) and Dr. Alan O’Connor (Trinity College Dublin) and allows clients to access the significant advances in bridge & structural engineering research in  the fields of loading, design and assessment which have occurred in the last 30 years. ROD-IS provides a consultancy outlet for this research which has not previously been developed to a commercial level and which capitalises on Ireland’s reputation as leaders in this field. To date ROD-IS has undertaken work in Ireland, the Middle East, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Through their involvement in R&D activities, ROD-IS has also collaborated with numerous internationally based  research institutes, universities, transport infrastructure stakeholders and other research focused companies.

We believe that excellence in design can only be achieved with excellent staff and to that end ROD place great importance on the training of our staff. Accredited to Engineers Ireland, ROD was awarded Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Company of the Year on two occasions in the past number of years and continue to ensure our staff are at the leading edge of developments in their field of expertise. ROD has a strong focus on Quality, Safety, the Environment and the ongoing Professional Development of our staff.  We are an ISO 9001 Quality accredited company.  Our commitment to Safety is best demonstrated by the achievement of OHSAS 18001 accreditation and the attention given to Safety Training of our staff, and in particular the efforts to ensure that our key design staff achieve independently accredited qualifications, through the NISO Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety.  Our focus on the Environment has resulted in the both achievement of ISO 14001 accreditation and, together with our joint venture partners on the N7 Naas Road widening project, the receipt of the CEEQUAL environmental award recognising environmentally friendly design and construction, the first (and to date only) Irish project to receive this accolade.