The board overseeing the new national children’s hospital is set to sanction the builders of the project in a further escalation of tensions, it has emerged.
It has also emerged that 1,200 smoke detectors and 400 fire exit signs now have to be relocated as part of late changes in the hospital.
In fresh correspondence issued to the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), and seen by The Irish Times, the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) said that the builders, BAM, have yet to deliver a compliant programme of works. BAM has rejected the claims.
The NPHDB said that the most recent programme was received on the September 29th, 2023, and included a substantial completion date for the hospital of October 29th, 2024. This was subsequently deemed as non-compliant by an employers’ representative who adjudicates on disputes. In May, the board told the PAC that the most recent progress report from the builders indicated a substantial completion date of February 2025.
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The board has now told the PAC, however, that there is a “continued failure by BAM” to deliver an updated programme “which is compliant with the requirements of the contract (which) means that BAM is not meeting its contractual obligations”.
The NPHDB said it now intends to move forward with a sanction which is allowed for in the contract. The board said it will “shortly submit” a claim which would allow it to withhold 15 per cent of certified payments until a compliant programme is received.
The board said that the number of claims made by BAM has now risen to €793 million through 2,311 claims.
“As we outlined when we met with the Public Accounts Committee in May, BAM continues to submit large volumes of claims, including duplication and triplication of claimed time and value. The NPHDB is robustly defending claims that we consider to be without merit or are inflated in order to prevent cost escalation and to protect the public purse.”
The board said that so far, the net change to the overall contract sum as determined by the employer’s representative is approximately €34.1 million excluding inflation, less than 4 per cent of the overall contract value.
In the correspondence to the committee, the board said that since March 2020, BAM has “changed its forecast completion date multiple times”. The NPHDB also said that under the contract, BAM is “responsible for providing adequate resources to achieve the progress set out in its programme”.
The spectre of a later completion date than February 2025 now also looms amid the continued dispute.
“The primary reason why the substantial completion date continues to move out is a lack of resourcing by BAM,” the board has told the PAC.
“In the contract programme provided by BAM in January 2019, BAM committed to a peak resource of over 1,700 productive operatives excluding management. The highest level of resources provided on the project by BAM to date was in June 2022 with circa 1,260 productive operatives. In 2024, there has been an average of 811 productive operatives on site.”
It has also emerged that works to rectify issues in 11 operating theatres have come at a cost of €200,000.
The Irish Times reported last year that BAM was told to stop works in the theatres as remediation works could be needed in their ceilings. The PAC has been told that square grilles within eleven theatres were changed to circular grilles.
“Initial correspondence from BAM indicated that changing and moving the four grilles in each theatre up to a metre would significantly delay the project and cost €25 million. BAM subsequently issued a claim for €25 million that has not been withdrawn despite this initial scope of works not being undertaken.”
“BAM stated that the works would take circa six months to complete and would impact the substantial completion date. This was rigorously challenged by the NPHDB and a final change order was issued instructing the physical works in the belief it could not impact the programme. These works are now effectively completed in a matter of weeks, not 6 months, and the NPHDB estimate the actual cost at less than €200,000.”
The board also said that around 1,200 smoke detectors now need to be moved “to ensure compliance”.
“Whilst BAM and the NPHDB design team are responsible for the co-ordination of the smoke detectors in the RCP’s, the NPHDB has agreed to pay BAM for the costs” in order “to minimise any potential impact on the programme for substantial completion”.
The board also said 400 fire exit signs also need to be “moved or introduced to ensure there is clear visibility through all of the devices that are hung below the ceilings such as signage and nurse call displays that can obscure fire exit sign visibility”.
In a statement, a spokesman for BAM said the company has “complied at all times with its contractual responsibilities including delivery of monthly work programmes and resourcing of the hospital. In fact, the project is currently being resourced significantly above the level anticipated for this stage of the build due to the unprecedented amount of change being instructed by the NPHDB at this late stage of the project.”
Asked about a compliant works programme, the spokesman said the company “continues to provide the board with monthly programme updates. These reflect the impact of multiple other changes requested by the NPHDB.”
The builder also said it “does not recognise or agree with the arguments put forward by the NPHDB in its letter to the PAC. It is regrettable that these arguments are being made and they are not in the interest of the project.”
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