Roughan & O'Donovan celebrates 50 years

Angela:

Joe and Derry first met in the early 1960s while they were working together in Denis O’Leary and Partners, a civil engineering practice based in Dublin. Denis was very fond of Derry, so much so that when he and I got married, Denis showed up - unexpectedly - on our honeymoon in Spain, joining us for dinner and accompanying us to a bullfight!

Helen:

It was in Denis O’Leary’s that Joe and Derry met Des Kernan, a technician who later became their first employee. Des was the real backbone of ROD. He had a great sense of humour and was fiercely loyal to Joe and Derry. Des and his wife, Phyll, played a big part in ROD’s story, and his sudden passing in 2006 was a huge loss for the company.

Helen:

Joe and Derry’s decision to set up their own consultancy was rooted in their shared love of engineering, but they were also practical enough to recognise in each other qualities that made for good business partners.

Angela:

They were both talented engineers and between them they had a vast network of contacts through family connections and their long involvement in sport. Derry’s father, JJ Roughan, was a bridge engineer who worked for himself, and it was always Derry’s ambition to do the same. JJ had a great of love of sports, and his contacts were instrumental in them winning the GAA club project in Wexford, one of their first projects. 

Helen:

Joe’s father was a cigire (a school inspector) with considerable experience and contacts in the Irish school system.  His first cousin worked for IDA Ireland during the 1970s. Their knowledge of upcoming contracts proved helpful to Joe and Derry when they were tendering for school and industrial development projects during their first decade in business.

Joe kept every desk diary he had from 1974, the year ROD was established, until his death in 2008. He was meticulous in recording all the business meetings, phone conversations, and important events that took place during those years. Reading them, you can’t help but appreciate what great networkers they both were. Every wedding, dress dance, football match and golf game was an opportunity to make a contact and potentially win new business.

Helen:

It was shortly after we married that Joe shared his plan to go into business with me. He was just 27 years old. In the early years, Joe worked from a bedroom in our house. I bought a typewriter to help Joe with his paperwork, setting it up in the kitchen. Joe used the telephone in the Millhouse Pub in Kilmacud to make his business calls. I’m sure there were people who thought he lived in the pub, as he was there so often! In fact, it was 1976 before he and Derry got their first phone!

I remember going into the Coombe Hospital for an appointment when I was pregnant with our second child, Peter, and the consultant advising me to stay because he thought the birth was imminent. I refused because I had an important report to complete for Joe. I went back home, finished my work, and then made my way back into the hospital. Peter was born at 3.30 am the following morning. When a nurse asked if she should call Joe to let him know his first son had arrived, I said, “No, wait until 6.30am because he has train to take to Mayo in the morning to meet Patsy Burke in Mayo County Council, and I don’t want to wake him.” Joe called into the hospital to see us on his way to the train station and stayed for about half an hour. How times have changed! 

Angela:

Initially, I was nervous when Derry told me that he and Joe were thinking of going out on their own. He was 29 years old, and we had four children under the age of six to think about! However, we discussed the risks and decided it was worth giving it a go.

Derry set up his office in a bedroom in our home. With a young family, this presented all manner of challenges, but we adapted and simply got on with life in our extremely busy household. 

Helen:

Several months after starting the company, Derry and Joe drew their first cheque from the business. It was for twenty pounds, shared between them. If I knew then what I know now, I would have framed it!

Angela:

The one piece of advice I gave Derry was to show that you care about your team, be understanding when they have problems and praise their work. This became part of the company ethos. It helped nurture the team’s deep affection for Derry and Joe and motivated them to work long hours when needed. Derry adopted a similar approach in his family life. No matter how busy he was or how heavy the weight of responsibility for the business became, he was always great at attending the children’s school events or picking them up and dropping them off at their activities!

Helen:

When it came to the work-related functions we attended over the years, it was my job to type up the names of everyone expected to attend, paying particular attention to county council staff members and their partners. Social events were an opportunity for us to show how grateful we were for the business our clients gave ROD, and they helped nurture many life-long friendships built on mutual affection and respect.

Angela:

Very few new bridges were constructed in Ireland during the 70s and early 80s, so Derry would often take the whole family to see existing bridges being rehabilitated by the council. Over time, I came to understand his love for engineering.   

Helen:

I remember Joe taking detours on our way home from dinner dances to look at bridges and, in later years, family outings down the motorway on Sundays to look at bridges!

Helen:

I remember Joe taking me home after I had spent a week in hospital recovering from three surgeries. We had three children at the time. He brought me into the living room, then turned around and said, “I have to go out to a meeting.” He never stopped!

Years later, when Joe was ill and recovering from treatment, I remember having to physically block the front door so he couldn’t go into the office for meetings. Eventually, we came to an agreement that he would allow himself a few days to rest before inviting his colleagues to the house for meetings rather than going into the office.

Angela:

No matter how busy or pressured they were, Derry and Joe never forgot the importance of their staff. The annual Christmas party was something special and great planning went into it every year. It was a chance for the whole ROD family, children included, to come together and enjoy each other’s company.

Angela:

I don’t think Derry and Joe had a ‘vision’ for the business in the way we understand that term now. They simply wanted to do what they loved - engineering - and keep their staff in work, which was particularly challenging in the late 70s and 80s when Ireland was struggling economically.

Helen:

I think that explains, in part, why they took as much pride in small bridge projects as big statement bridges. They were engineers, through and through, and while being involved in iconic bridge projects like the Mary McAleese Boyne Valley Bridge and the Samuel Beckett Bridge was important to them, they never wanted the accolades. In fact, I remember Joe once getting a call from Garry Smyth in relation to an Irish Times article about the William Dargan Bridge. Garry was upset that ROD’s contribution as designers of the structure had either been overlooked or attributed to another company. Joe simply said, “Those who know don’t talk. Those who talk don’t know.” 

Angela:

Over the years, several companies made approaches to buy the company from Derry and Joe, but they never wanted to sell. They wanted to pass the business back within the ROD family and keep it as an Irish company.

Angela:

It makes me very proud when my grandchildren use ROD as the subject of their school projects. In fact, only recently, my grandson told me that – following one such project - his friend now thinks of Derry whenever he crosses the William Dargan Bridge!

Helen:

I remember the speech Joe gave at the opening of Mary McAleese Boyne Valley Bridge in 2003, in which he quoted John Ruskin:

“When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, 'See! This our fathers did for us.”

For me, Derry and Joe’s legacy goes beyond the structures they designed. It lives on in the ethos of the company they built, where their memory continues to be honoured and the contribution of every member of the team continues to be celebrated.