Development board of National Children's Hospital to seek damages due to BAM delays

In the opening statement, Mr Gunning will tell TDs to achieve the April 30 completion date, BAM must deliver over 400 rooms each week. File picture: Brian Lawless 

The board overseeing the development of the new National Children’s Hospital has said contractor BAM could face €40m in charges because of delays to the project.

The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) will tell the Oireachtas Health Committee that it is “exercising all rights and remedies” to ensure the construction firm achieves completion of the project.

NPHDB chief officer David Gunning will tell the committee that the board had previously issued an employer's claim to seek damages from BAM over the delay.

“Based on BAM’s forecasted completion date of April 30, the NPHDB has estimated potential liquidated damages for the works to be €40,207,143,” Mr Gunning is due to say.

However, BAM has pushed back on the cost outlined by the NPHDB, saying it “does not recognise” the figure.

“There is an ongoing contractual process dealing with change, extensions of time, contract administration, and the final value of the project,” a spokesperson for BAM said.

In the opening statement, Mr Gunning will tell TDs to achieve the April 30 completion date, BAM must deliver over 400 rooms each week.

“As of March 20, 3,726 of the 5,728 rooms have been offered by BAM to the design team to validate compliance with the contract standard,” Mr Gunning is due to say. 

“As of March 20, 2,854 of the 5,728 rooms have been validated as meeting the contract standard."

Mr Gunning will also say the contractor has delayed its programme 18 times since work began in 2019.

However, BAM rejected these accusations, saying the project 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.

Mr Gunning will say that the NPHDB will “not accept” the new Children’s Hospital if it is not in compliance with existing regulations and standards.

“The NPHDB and Children's Health Ireland (CHI0 have undertaken due diligence studies and considered lessons learnt from other large international and complex hospitals,” he is due to say. “These reviews have evidenced that unresolved compliance issues can cause operational disruptions and safety risks for patients.”

It comes a week on from a meeting between the health minister, HSE, NPHDB and Royal BAM, the Dutch parent firm of the Irish arm, where Jennifer Carroll MacNeill sought assurances that the contractor would meet the April 30 deadline.

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The meeting particularly focused on ensuring the NPHDB gets access to the so-called ‘hot block’ of the hospital, which contains laboratories, theatres, and critical care rooms.

Mr Gunning will tell TDs that, during the meeting, Bam committed to “provide a resource-loaded close-out plan” to achieve completion by April 30.

“The NPHDB is committed to and is doing everything in its power to compel Bam to conclude its work and fulfil its contractual responsibilities, so that the National Children's Hospital Ireland is completed to the standard set out in the contract as soon as possible and handed over to CHI for operational commissioning,” Mr Gunning will conclude.

• Tadgh McNally is a Political Reporter.