The new national children’s hospital may implement sanctions against its construction company, BAM, due to an ongoing dispute, as recent developments have revealed. The conflict has been exacerbated following revelations of jeopardies involving the relocation of 1,200 smoke detectors and 400 exit signs in the hospital resulting from late modifications.
The construction project is overseen by the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB), which stated that BAM has failed to deliver a compliant programme of works. According to the board, the builders submitted their most recent programme on September 29, 2023, with a forecasted completion date of October 29, 2024, which an employers’ representative found to be non-compliant. The NPHDB pointed out in May that the latest progress report proposed a completion date in February 2025.
NPHDB has informed the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of BAM’s continued failure to provide a contractually compliant updated programme, expressing that this constitutes a breach of obligations. The board is therefore considering moving ahead with penalties stipulated in the contract. It’s preparing to lodge a claim which would allow them to retain 15 per cent of the confirmed payments until a compliant programme is forthcoming.
According to NPHDB, the claims made by BAM have surged to €793 million through 2,311 individual claims. The board stated that BAM continues to lodge a large amount of duplicated and triplicated claims concerning time and value. The board intends to vigorously contest any claims they perceive as baseless or inflated to avoid cost overrun and protect public funds.
According to the employer’s representative, the updates to the overall contract amount currently stands at around €34.1 million without inflation, which is less than 4% of the overall contract’s worth, as reported by the board. Communication to the committee revealed that since March 2020, BAM, the contracting company, has recurrently revised its projected completion date, noted the board. It was clarified by the NPHDB that according to the contract, the obligation to provide sufficient resources to fulfil the projected progress was BAM’s.
Controversy is ongoing, and there’s a growing concern that the completion date may be later than February 2025. The chief cause for the persistent delay of the notable completion date is BAM’s resource deficiency, the board has informed the PAC. As per the contract laid out by BAM in January 2019, BAM pledged to a maximum resource capacity of over 1,700 productive workers excluding management. However, the greatest number of resources allocated to the project by BAM till now was around 1,260 productive workers reported in June 2022. In 2024, the site has witnessed an average of 811 productive workers.
Additionally, it has surfaced that fixes to problems found in 11 operating theatres have resulted in a cost of approximately €200,000. The PAC was informed that square-shaped grilles were replaced by circular ones within these 11 theatres. As per initial communication from BAM, to move and alter the four grilles in each theatre by up to a meter would substantially delay the project and cost €25 million. Despite not undertaking the scope of works outlined initially, BAM did claim for, and has not yet withdrawn, €25 million.
BAM suggested that the manoeuvre would take around six months and significantly impact the completion date, however, this was strenuously contested by the NPHDB and a definitive change order was issued, believing it wouldn’t affect the programme. Contrary to BAM’s estimates, these works have been essentially concluded within a few weeks instead of six months, costing notably less than €200,000, as estimated by the NPHDB. The board also reported the need to relocate roughly 1,200 smoke detectors to ensure they meet the required standards.
While the design team from BAM and NPHDB are in charge of orchestrating the distribution of smoke alarms within the RCP’s, it is understood that NPHDB has consented to bear the expenses incurred by BAM with the aim of reducing any potential problems that could derail achieving significant completion. Furthermore, it has been brought to attention that 400 fire exit indicators require repositioning or installation to guarantee their unobstructed visibility, taking into account the devices fixed beneath the ceilings – including signs and nurse call displays – that may impede the view of said fire exit indications.