{"id":623145,"date":"2026-09-13T06:30:36","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T06:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/623145\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T06:30:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T06:30:36","slug":"no-completion-date-agreed-for-irelands-e2-2bn-national-childrens-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/623145\/","title":{"rendered":"No completion date agreed for Ireland\u2019s \u20ac2.2bn National Children\u2019s Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is currently no date agreed for completion of the new children\u2019s hospital<\/a> between construction firm BAM and the board in charge of the development, the Irish Examiner can reveal.<\/p>\n

The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) could only say on Friday that it remains committed to delivering the hospital \u201cas soon as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

This comes as BAM\u2019s executive director in Ireland is set to leave the company for a new role within months. An interim appointment will take over during the search for his replacement.<\/p>\n

Over the summer, BAM was asked for a revised completion date and updates on outstanding matters as an end-of-August deadline loomed. By then, the build had missed 19 deadlines and costs had soared to an estimated \u20ac2.2bn.<\/p>\n

However, on Friday, a spokeswoman for the NPHDB said: \u201cThe hospital cannot open until BAM has satisfactorily addressed all quality and compliance matters that have been evident and clear to BAM.\u201d<\/p>\n

An independent third party known as the Employer\u2019s Representative administers the contract.<\/p>\n

The spokeswoman continued: \u201cThe Employer\u2019s Representative has requested a revised programme from BAM that includes a robust timeline for the remediation of certification issues and certainty around any revised BAM Substantial Completion date.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if this means there is no date in place currently, she said: \u201cThat\u2019s correct.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cOver the past 15 months, the need for BAM to extensively revise its initial offers to meet contractual standards has affected its progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

BAM, she said, has addressed 199,700 defects since the project began.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently, approximately 2,000 defects remain, though new defects are added and closed during ongoing inspections,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201c4,983 of 5,728 rooms have now reached the contract standard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Compliance issues remain<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, it was reported that a compensation claim of nearly \u20ac100m made by BAM over disputed costs was rejected by a conciliator. Neither BAM nor the NPHDB has commented on these figures.<\/p>\n

Concerns have been aired publicly about potential compliance issues around the certification of prefabricated bathroom pods.<\/p>\n

The spokeswoman reiterated that BAM is responsible for design and procurement.<\/p>\n

\u201cA compliance issue has been identified, and BAM is developing design solutions to address it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The design team will review these solutions after BAM submits them, she added.<\/p>\n

She also confirmed BAM has told the board its Irish business will be led by Chief Operating Officer for UK & Ireland John Wilkinson until a new executive director is appointed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NPHDB trusts that the change in local leadership will not affect BAM\u2019s commitment to progressing the project towards completion as quickly as possible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

BAM says hospital is in final stages<\/p>\n

A spokesman for BAM described the project as \u201cin the final stages of commissioning and certification\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe programme continues to be, and has always been, sufficiently resourced,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said specialist commissioning work is underway for the final stages, saying: \u201cAs the vast bulk of the works near completion, it is entirely normal that there are fewer personnel on site.\u201d He confirmed an update on the BAM website that executive director Alasdair Henderson is leaving, saying he will \u201cpursue new professional opportunities\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Wilkinson will take over the day-to-day management of the Ireland business.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Construction Director with oversight for the National Children\u2019s Hospital remains in place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBAM continues to work closely with the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board and Children\u2019s Health Ireland to deliver the hospital as quickly and safely as possible for the children of Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is currently no date agreed for completion of the new children\u2019s hospital between construction firm BAM and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[120970,11246,4892,2120,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-623145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-childrens-hospital","tag-childrens-health","tag-health-news","tag-hse","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}