Members of our UK team pictured outside our Otley office, just outside Leeds.
In 2019, ROD opened the doors of its first UK office in Otley, Leeds. Our then company secretary and now Managing Director, Jim Thorpe, was charged with leading our expansion in the UK and enhancing our responsiveness to clients and partners throughout Great Britain. Drawing upon his previous experience of working in the UK, and his knowledge of UK engineering people and practices, Jim has assembled a dedicated team to support him in growing the business.
Our Otley office now employs 16 staff across six disciplines, namely bridges, environmental, water, transportation, geotechnics and business support, with additional roles currently advertised in our bridges and highways teams. In fact, Jim’s recruitment efforts have been so successful that we are already looking to expand our office space to enable us to accommodate up to nine additional staff.
Among our more recent recruits is Bid Manager, Jonathan Llywelyn-Jones, who will assist us in growing our order book, which currently features several high-profile projects, including:
- working with the contractors for the Great Yarmouth Third River Crossing in Norfolk, which is currently in the construction phase
- undertaking the independent checking of the Cross Tay Scheme, one of the largest infrastructure projects ever undertaken by Perth & Kinross Council
- undertaking the design review and updates for the Narrow Water Bridge and approaches;
- working with Hardesty and Hanover (H&H) to deliver the superstructure of the Clyde Bridge in Renfrewshire, Scotland; and
- overseeing the A6 Dungiven to Drumahoe Dualling scheme, with our site-based team in Northern Ireland.
One member of our team recently completed a full-time, four-month secondment with the environmental and water engineering consultancy Jeremy Benn Associates (JBA). ROD is providing structural and bridge engineering support for several JBA-led projects, including the assessment of existing infrastructure for the Environment Agency (EA) and Cumbria County Council. ROD’s role in these projects involves scoping intrusive investigations, site attendance during the third-party works, engineering assessment and assisted carbon and economic considerations. JBA meanwhile is providing flood and environmental assessment support for various ROD-led transportation schemes.
In March 2022, we were delighted to receive a certificate of commendation at the ICE Yorkshire and Humber Awards for our recent work on the Humber Bridge Rocker Bearing Replacement project. The works included the appraisal of an existing pumping station and preliminary design of a replacement pumping station, with associated engineering, carbon, and economic considerations.
