To Irish people of a certain generation the name Tony Heaphy was a by-word for bigger things. Heaphy, from Kerry, preceded now default irish names in the construction industry like Laing O'Rourke and Byrne Brothers. In fact it was Heaphy who gave the late great Patsy Byrne his start in the British capital - they were from the same town of Duagh after all. And Heaphy, who sadly died last month at the age of 73, would go on to work on projects like the Trocadero in Piccadilly, the Brighton Marina Complex and Heathrow Terminal Five.
In between those projects and blazing a trail through the building sites of 1960s London, Heaphy took a detour into the hotel industry returning to Ireland to run the Listowel Arms as well as guest houses in Dublin.
There were other tangents too and business dealings in Russia that involved ex-KGB officers and the reopening of a supplyline of plywood into Britain.
London was originally intended only as a pit-stop for the America bound Heaphy, but he met his wife Sheila and settled in Putney before moving to Harrow.
It was through this period that the Duagh native formed a construction company along with close friends from Kerry, a business venture that would one day grow into Heaphy-Morrisroe and employ hundreds of Irish people.
One of those who was given work by Heaphy was publican Ambrose Gordon who recalls the late Patsy Byrne getting his start as a carpenter on one of Heaphy's building sites.
"He was ahead of them all at that time," said Gordon. "The big players that are there now were given the road map of how to do it by the early contractors like Heaphy-Morrisroe."
"I remember when they set up Putney Enterprises and other big projects in Barnet to build 1,200 houses. They were all Kerry guys who set it up: Heaphy, Andy Morris Roe, Sean Curtain and Pat Regan."
That sentiment was echoed by Danny Sullivan from the Danny Sullivan Group. "He was the big one in the late '60s," he said. "Heaphy was there before any of the big Irish companies that are here now. He was a pioneer in that way and he gave a lot of employment to Irish people.
"You have to remember there wasn't a lot of Irish sub-contractors that time - he was one of the first, so he set a lot of people going, and a lot of people went on to repeat what he had done.
"When I came first, I heard about him. He was always spoken about with great respect. In that sense and in a business sense he was a wonderful ambassador for Ireland."
A former Kerry footballer, Heaphy regularly returned to his native county where according to his daughter Marie, he was happiest "in the middle of a swell in Dingle Bay with the waves rocking the boat."
But London's draw always endured and in 2003, Heaphy was back at the construction coalface - this time the job was Heathrow Terminal 5. In recent times he became involved in a property management company with his second wife Judith but in June 2012 'he was diagnosed with an inoperable liver tumour, which he succumbed to on January 13.
His daughter Marie said: We spent our last Christmas with dad. We played, we laughed, we cried, we toasted him with his favourite tipple Jamesons. Dad's faith was very important to him and it was this faith that was a great source of comfort to him in his final days."
An estimated 200 people turned up for his funeral in Hillingdon before his remains were removed to his native Kerry. "There was a lot of people at the funeral who would have known him from that time in the late '60s an worked with him. I even met a man there to pay his respects who was one of his first foremen in Britain."
His daughter said: "Dad was a man who lived life to the fullest. He didn't always play by the rules. When life dished the blows, he simply got up, chest up, shoulders back and continued on."

Irish Post, 8th February 2014 Tweet

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