Children’s hospital opening delayed again

CONSTRUCTION of the National Children’s Hospital is set to be delayed even further after it was confirmed it will not be completed this year.

On Thursday, May 30, The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the massive project will not be substantially completed by the end of October.

So far, the total amount spent on the new children’s hospital, up to April this year, is €1.4 billion.

Originally, it was estimated in 2015 that it would cost €650m.

The PAC was told that BAM, who are building the hospital, have submitted 2,782 extra claim costs of which 2,182 have been valued at a cost of around €785m.

Only a small amount of the claims however have been determined in favour of BAM to the value of over €22.8m.

The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board told the PAC that the net change to the overall contract value is around €27m, including conciliations and adjudications on extra claims.

Labour TD Alan Kelly described the project as “a disaster zone for years” in response to a report to the PAC by the CEO of the New Children’s Hospital, David Gunning.

Mr Gunning also told the PAC that up to now, BAM has submitted just under 2,800 claims to the NPHDB calling for cost reappraisals due to the “evolving nature of the project.”

“The contract with BAM states that substantial completion is August 2022,” he said.

“Some additional time has been awarded to BAM by the Employer’s Representative (ER) which has extended the contractual substantial completion date to November 2022.

“Since March 2020, BAM has changed its forecast completion date multiple times.

“The latest Baseline Programme submission was received on the 29th September 2023, and included a stated Substantial Completion date of 29th October 2024.

“This was evaluated by and determined as not being compliant with the Contract.

“BAM is not meeting its contractual obligation in providing an updated Programme which is compliant with the requirements of the Contract.

“The ER has requested an updated revised Baseline Programme from BAM that address’s the programme comments issued by the ER, as is required under the Contract.”

Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy said people want to know when the hospital will open and what will it cost.

She said the board is saying it’s using “all contractual levers” – but, she said, the board has no control over the people on site.

In response, an official from the Department of Health told the PAC that they expect the contractor BAM to substantially complete the children’s hospital in February 2025 “or before.”

Sinn Féin’s Brian Stanley, who is the PAC chair, criticised the board’s decision not to impose penalties on BAM for breaches of contract.

“Not one penny, this company has not suffered one penalty of loss because of any of this,” he said.

“This is outrageous stuff. ”

In a statement however, BAM said it has always resourced the project “beyond the level required” and it’s “fully committed” to delivering the hospital within the “shortest possible timeframe”.

They also described claims that they aren’t adequately resourcing the construction of the hospital as “completely untrue”.

When completed, the new children’s hospital will replace Dublin’s three existing children’s hospitals, Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Temple Street Children’s Hospital and The National Children’s Hospital, and will merge the three into one hospital that will be located beside St. James Hospital.

It will have 6,150 rooms in total, 1,000 parking spaces, a 53-bed family accommodation facility with outdoor space with 14 gardens and courtyards and 22 operating theatres and procedure rooms.