The board overseeing the development of the national children’s hospital (NCH) intends to seek damages from construction firm BAM with a claim which could run to more than €20 million over delays in the completion of the project.
It is the latest development in the row over construction of the new hospital, which has been hit by successive delays and spiralling cost overruns.
It comes after a letter from the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, to Taoiseach Simon Harris, Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman, warned that the completion date for the hospital would probably slip again, beyond the previous substantial completion date of February 2025.
The necessary subsequent fit-out time for the building casts doubt on the prospect of it opening next year as a result.
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BAM has disputed some of the contents of the Minister’s letter, describing the claims as not “helpful to ensuring this complex and vital project is completed at the earliest possible juncture”.
Earlier this year it was revealed the cost of the hospital has increased by more than €500 million, bringing the total sum expected to be spent on the project, including transitioning of services to the building, to €2.2 billion. The various parties have been increasingly blaming each other for the delays and cost escalations.
The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB), in a statement said BAM had “shifted its cited substantial completion date for the new children’s hospital 14 times since it commenced above ground works in early 2019″.
[ Key children’s hospital positions not filled permanently as opening date loomsOpens in new window ]
The board said it “is continuing to do everything in its power to compel BAM to conclude its work and fulfil its contractual responsibilities”.
It said it had “moved, for a second time, to withhold 15 per cent of certified payments due to BAM”, and notified the construction firm of its “intention to apply liquidated damages for late completion”.
Liquidated damages are a specific instrument within construction contracts which relate to a particular sum agreed by the parties deemed to be payable in the event of a breach.
In May, David Gunning, the chief executive of the NPHDB, told the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee the total cost of the damages could be more than €21 million.
The NPHDB statement did not offer an updated figure for the level of liquidated damages it expects to seek but said: “The figure will be dependent on BAM’s monthly progress.”
In statements to The Irish Times the NPHDB and BAM made claim and counter claim over who was to blame for the delays to the project.
The board blamed delays on “BAM’s continued insistence on offering rooms and areas within the hospital as complete, when they are incomplete”. and “BAM’s continued unwillingness to resource the project appropriately”.
BAM, in response, said it “is fully confident in the quality of the construction work for this world class hospital”, describing the “handover of rooms and de-snagging of minor issues [as] routine”.
A spokesman for BAM also said the company’s sole focus was completing the hospital “for the benefit of the children of Ireland” and the build phase was 93 per cent complete “based on the original scope, notwithstanding the additional work generated by the significant number of design changes”.
The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board will be appearing before the Oireachtas health committee on September 25th to give a detailed update to members.
