Board won't reveal new BAM timeline for children's hospital

This week, it emerged that external investigators hired to review the works on the site had been “excluded” from the campus for six weeks. File picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

The board tasked with delivering the National Children’s Hospital has said it will not comment on a potential date for the hospital to be finished, despite receiving an updated timeline from developers BAM this week.

The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) has said it could take up to three months to review BAM’s latest programme, which sets out the plan of action for delivering the hospital between now and its estimated completion date. The NPHDB has been at loggerheads with BAM over the delivery of the hospital, with ballooning costs set to push the total final cost to over €2bn.

At an Oireachtas committee hearing last week, NPHDB CEO David Gunning said that BAM had been due to deliver its programme to the board the previous Friday but had not done so. Mr Gunning said he had been told the programme would be delivered this week instead, and the NPHDB confirmed on Wednesday it has received it.

At the committee, the NPHDB made a slew of claims about BAM’s work which the contractor later strongly refuted. The board claimed BAM is “not providing sufficient resources to deliver the hospital” as the contractor has only achieved “67% of its planned output in the last 12 months”, falling as low as 34% at certain times.

The NPDHB had believed BAM would provide a “contract-compliant programme” by last Friday setting out timelines for completion. This is now expected next week.

Mr Gunning said it is critical for the board to have clarity on the timeline for completion. Continuing the war of words, BAM later denied the claims and said it "categorically rejects" any allegations of under-performance and under-resourcing of the project, adding it is more than 85% complete to date.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan warned the Government can’t afford to see a breakdown between BAM and the board as "we need to complete the hospital".

Review

This week, it emerged that external investigators hired to review the works on the site had been “excluded” from the campus for six weeks. According to minutes from a board meeting in June, members discussed the “behaviour” of BAM and that a timeline of delivery for May 2024 could be “optimistic”.

Despite now receiving the updated timelines from BAM, the NPHDB said it would not be providing details of it at this time.

A spokesperson said: “Due to the level of complexity and detail involved with a programme of this nature, it will now be subject to a review by the Employer’s Representative to determine whether or not the programme is compliant.

“This review process could take up to three months to complete. The NPHDB will not be commenting on anything included within that programme, including the proposed substantial completion date, until such time as it is confirmed by the Employer’s Representative that the programme is compliant.”