The lead contractor for the new children’s hospital has accused the development board of “actively underfunding the project”.
It comes after the chief officer of board claimed the hospital was being held like a “hostage” in negotiations with contractor Bam.
The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) has accused the company of under-resourcing the project and failing to deliver on its contractual obligations.
A fresh row over the hospital emerged after it was claimed that not one of the facility’s 5,500 rooms was finished to the expected standard.
The beleaguered development has been delayed on 14 occasions – four of which occurred within the last year.
The projected costs of the hospital have spiralled to 2.2 billion euro, up from an initial estimated price tag of 650 million euro in 2014.
The current completion date of the hospital, billed by the Government as “state-of-the-art”, is set at a contested June 2025.
National Paediatric Hospital Development Board chief officer David Gunning was appearing before the Oireachtas Health Committee (Brian Lawless/PA)
Following completion, there will be an approximately six-to-eight-month commissioning period before the site is ready to accept children as patients.
The NPHDB has responsibility for engaging with Bam on behalf of the Government.
It has said that the main delay around the hospital is insufficient resourcing from the contractor. Bam claims that thousands of design changes from the board have delayed the project.
NPHDB chief officer David Gunning told the Oireachtas Health Committee on Wednesday that Bam would “not be given another cent beyond what it is entitled to”.
Mr Gunning also warned that “another slip” on the completion date was “not an unreasonable expectation” given the history of the development.
In a lengthy statement, Bam said its priority was to deliver the hospital “for the benefit of the children of Ireland and their families as quickly as possible”.
It rejected claims levelled against it by board – and included in the Health Minister’s letter to the Taoiseach last week – which said the contractor was showing a disregard for Irish children and seeking to extract a maximum amount of money from the Irish taxpayer.
It said the comments were “misleading, ill-informed and incorrect allegations” that “have absolutely no basis in fact”.
“To be clear, Bam is only looking for the money to which it is properly entitled for work done under the contract, and not a penny more,” the statement said.
Mr Gunning, who said he spoke to Bam Ireland’s chief executive on Tuesday, maintained there had been no “significant design change” from the beginning of the project.
The board accepts there had been changes to drawings, for which Mr Gunning said the contractor had been paid “over and above the agreed price” for additional resourcing.
National Paediatric Hospital Development Board project director Phelim Devine said examined rooms had 13-15 defects on average (Brian Lawless/PA)
Mr Gunning said: “We do not agree that design change is the cause of delays on this project. We simply don’t buy it.”
On the contractor’s commercial strategy, he added: “It is almost as if Bam will slow down the progress and, you know, the hospital is the hostage in this negotiation and it’s only if additional monies are paid that we can get this hospital done completely.”
In particular, Mr Gunning said the contractor continually insisted on describing areas within the hospital as finished when they were incomplete.
“As of today, not one room has been fully completed in line with the standard and finish as set out in the contract,” he said.
“There are 5,678 clinical spaces in the new hospital and whilst to date Bam has offered 3,128 as complete, none were completed to the required standard.”
It follows a series of inspections of rooms that were presented as complete.
Phelim Devine, the board’s project director, said rooms could only be considered complete when they were “as close to snag-free within reason”.
But he said outstanding issues with the rooms were not akin to “scuffs of paint”.
He told the committee that examined rooms had on average 13-15 defects including fire sealing, ventilation, and incomplete works above ceilings.
Bam maintains the project “has always been fully resourced” and rejected claims that rooms had been handed over as “completed”.
The contractor said it was engaged in works to “correct thousands of design errors” identified in the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board’s compliance audit.
These included relocating thousands of ceiling-mounted services such as smoke detectors, CCTV cameras and sprinkler heads.
It said this work was the substantive cause of delays since January, adding: “The ceiling issues are merely the latest in a long list of design issues and changes. To be clear, apart from a limited number of items, the NPHDB is responsible for the design of the hospital.”
Bam said it had received more than 23,900 new and revised drawings, sketches and BIM models and schedules for the project.
It said this was “an unprecedented volume of change” when considering the project had been under design for more than eight years.
“BAM receives design information in a fragmented, piecemeal format making it extremely difficult to programme the works,” it said.
Bam said it had “serious questions” over the board’s ability to manage the project and to “account fairly and truthfully”.
“The board’s current position is actively underfunding the project and starving the Irish supply chain of the money is it fairly due,” it said.
The 2.2 billion euro figure includes 1.88 billion euro for the NPHDB component of completing construction, as well as hundreds of millions of euro for the full commissioning of the building.
The NPHDB will hand the site over to Children’s Health Ireland following the completion of the hospital.
Mr Gunning said he was “confident” that the current 1.88 billion euro funding allocation would be “sufficient” to complete the project, which was described as 94% complete.
But he told the committee he could not guarantee that costs of the project would increase following the resolution of legal claims from the contractor.
Asked by Fianna Fail TD John Lahart if he would recommend Bam for future State infrastructure projects, Mr Gunning referenced the rules around making comments at committees and said: “I don’t believe I should answer that question.”
More generally, he said there was “merit” to proposals suggested by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly that past performance should be considered when awarding State contracts.
He also revealed that, to date, the board could only claim 15 million euro in liquidated damages for delays under the terms of the contract.