The national children’s hospital will not be substantially completed before the end of April, making it the 18th deadline that has not been met, the Oireachtas health committee has heard.
Representatives of Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) and the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) yesterday updated TDs and Senators about the €2.24 billion hospital, which has been beset by cost overruns and delays.
The hospital was due for substantial completion on April 30th, the 18th such date put forward by the contractor.
However, NPHDB chief officer David Gunning said the board on Tuesday met senior representatives of construction company Bam, which confirmed it would “not deliver on their 30th April substantial completion date”.
He added that while Bam was not achieving substantial completion by this date, “they expect to have areas of the hospital completed by the end of April”.
The employer’s representative (ER), the independent third party responsible for administering the development contract, is in the process of writing to Bam requesting an updated formal programme.
Gunning said they did not yet have a new substantial completion date, and this should be available in around three working weeks once the new programme has been evaluated.
Asked if he expected the forthcoming deadline would be met, he said he would be “naive” to believe it but added “we are inches away from getting this ball across the line”.
Gunning has attributed the delays to a lack of resourcing on the site, stating there is around 560 workers there on average.
“We would like to see resources absolutely flooding the site. Under the contract we have no lever in relation to resources,” he added.
“We are beyond frustration with where things are at. It’s completely unacceptable for a tier 1 contractor to offer commitments and to simply dismiss them 18 times. But that’s what we’re dealing with.”
The relationship between the contractor and the board overseeing the project has grown increasingly fractious in recent years as costs increased and deadlines passed.
In its opening statement to politicians, the NPHDB said it had exercised “all rights and remedies” available under the contract to compel Bam to achieve substantial completion by the target date, including withholding 15 per cent of payments due on a number of occasions.
It also believes it could be entitled to more than €40.2 million in liquidated damages due to delays to substantial completion.
However, Gunning said this figure could increase if the works are delayed further.
Speaking at the same meeting, Lucy Nugent, chief executive of CHI, said the organisation had reduced its operational commissioning timeline from nine months to seven months in an attempt to open the hospital as soon as possible.
A number of reports have raised patient safety and clinical concerns about decanting to the new hospital during the winter period, raising questions as to whether it will be the spring of next year before the hospital opens to patients.
However, Nugent said they are “looking at all options” to allow the hospital to open as quickly as possible. CHI will look at the flu season in the southern hemisphere to estimate the potential impact when it arrives in the State, as well as vaccination rates.
She added that CHI has also been in discussions with a Norway hospital that last year moved premises during winter.
“We will continue to evaluate the situation,” she said. “We will risk-assess if it’s safe to do so.”
A spokesman for Bam said it is “not accurate or constructive to state that Bam has continuously missed completion dates”.
“The programme has evolved in response to instructed design changes and additional scope during the project. Each updated completion date reflects these new changes and the resulting need to reprogramme the works, rather than any failure of performance.”
He added that the contractor continues to “work closely” with stakeholders to deliver the hospital as quickly as possible.