The body overseeing the development of the new national children’s hospital cannot provide “assurance” that the project will reach completion by June 2025, describing it as a “hostage in this negotiation”.
On Wednesday, the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) appeared before the Oireachtas Health Committee to providing an update on the construction of the hospital.
David Gunning, chief officer of the NPHDB, told politicians construction of the hospital was now at 94 per cent.
BAM, the contractor, has informed the board the new substantial completion date will be June 2025, which Mr Gunning said “will facilitate 2026 opening”.
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However, he expressed caution about that timeline. “I would be very reluctant to give the committee any assurance or confidence in the June 2025 timeline, in the absence of the information that we need to look in detail and do a critical analysis.”
Underpinning that is the question of what resources the contractor is going to employ during this period, he said.
Phelim Devine, the project director, told the committee that the key problem is that none of the rooms are completed to required standards.
“We are averaging about 13 to 15 defects per room. These aren’t scuffs of paint. These are compliance issues. It is remarkable that we have these rooms offered as complete when in fact they are not complete.”
He said there has been some progress in this regard in the last week, during which time 72 rooms were re-offered. These are being inspected for compliance.
The final stage of construction of the hospital, Mr Devine said, is technical commission. “And then you’re at substantial completion,” he added.
Mr Gunning accused BAM of using the hospital as a “hostage” to secure more funding from the State. The contractor is claiming an additional €748 million, with 18 claims making up 80 per cent of that amount.
Despite BAM claiming this figure, the net change to the overall contract sum to date, agreed in conciliation and subject to an adjudication decision, is about €35 million, excluding inflation, Mr Gunning said.
In a statement, BAM rejected “in the strongest terms” claims it was trying to extract excessive money from the Irish taxpayer, describing them as “misleading, ill-informed and incorrect”.
“These claims have absolutely no basis in fact, nor are they helpful to ensuring this complex and vital project is completed at the earliest possible juncture,” the statement said.
The contractor said it would write to the Minister for Health and An Taoiseach to “set out our issues”.
BAM has repeatedly stated that design changes ordered by the NPHDB are the reason behind the delays.
“A key driver of ongoing delay is late, extensive changes to the reflected ceiling plans (RCPs) for the building resulting from a compliance audit. This instructed change has required BAM to revisit the vast majority of ceilings in the hospital and remove and reinstall more than 2,200 ceiling-mounted devices (eg smoke detectors, sprinkler heads),” BAM said.
In the committee meeting, Mr Gunning robustly disagreed with this assertion: “Design is not holding up the project at the moment. These rooms are practically finished.”
However, BAM said “a huge level of design change has continued into the latter stages of this project”.
“More than 1,500 new drawings have been issued to BAM in 2024 alone, continuing a trend of huge design change which has continued throughout the building phase since 2019. BAM continues to receive revised drawings from the Board on a daily basis,” it added.
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