CONSTRUCTION FIRM BAM has not provided an updated completion date for the new National Children’s Hospital, the Public Accounts Committee will be told tomorrow. 

The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) and Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) will appear before the PAC to give an update on the hospital.

In his opening statement, NPHDB’s chief officer David Gunning will tell the committee that over €1.6bn has been spent on the hospital to date. He will say that construction is now in its final stages, with “significant progress achieved across all areas”. 

He is also expected to outline a number of issues with the project, including dust in the ventilation ducts.

“I think you will all appreciate that we cannot accept critical areas such as theatres where the contractor has not removed the dust and dirt in these ducts.”

Gunning will say that on 24 March, BAM Ireland confirmed to the NPHDB that the hospital would not “reach Substantial Completition” by 30 April, “which is approximately 40 months later than the revised contract date of 2 December 2022″. 

“Instead, it said it would complete a large majority of the building, but crucially not all of it. This will be the 19th time BAM has changed its own substantial completion date.”

He will tell TDs and senators that the independent third party responsible for administering the contract wrote to BAM on 27 March to formally request an updated programme of delivery, which has yet to be provided. 

David Gunning. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Gunning will say that 4,313 of 5,728 rooms have been offered at the completion standard to date. Of those, 3,159 have been validated by the design team.

He will also tell the committee that there are currently 12,414 defects remaining, of which 4,463 have been offered to the design team for validation. He will also say that BAM had to address “an unprecedented 106,500 defects in the 5,728 rooms” in the last 15 months.

Data ‘highly selective’ and ‘misleading’ – BAM

In a statement to The Journal, a spokesperson for BAM said the firm has “a strong track record of successfully delivering major hospital projects across Ireland and beyond”. 

“The National Children’s Hospital is the largest healthcare investment in the State’s history and what is being described is the normal snagging and commissioning phase required on projects of this scale and complexity,” the spokesperson said.

They said “highly selective” data is being used, “which is both misleading and fails to show the full picture”.

“For example, of the 5,728 areas/rooms in this hospital, it has been reported that just 3,185 have been completed, ignoring the fact that an additional 1,219 have been offered to the client and are awaiting review.”

They continued: “The public have seen for themselves in recent weeks through broadcast media coverage that this is a high quality project in its final stages.

“BAM is tied into an ongoing contractual process dealing with design change, extensions of time, contract administration, and the final value of the project.

“Until the design is fully finalised, completion dates will continue to evolve. This was identified as a key risk as far back as 2019, when PwC highlighted ongoing design change as one of the biggest challenges to delivery.”

A view of the hospital in October 2024. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

The spokesperson said BAM continues to work closely with the NPHDB and CHI “to deliver the hospital as quickly and safely as possible for the children of Ireland”. 

Gunning is also expected to tell the committee that the NPHDB and CHI are “primarily focused” getting access to the Hot Block in the hospital.

This area includes the emergency department, imaging and diagnostics, laboratories and clinical engineering at lower ground and ground level, and the critical care and operating theatres at levels one and two. 

The NPHDB expect BAM to hand over level one and two “in the coming weeks”, Gunning will say.

“Once these areas are in place, the NPHDB and CHI can continue progressing with additional fitout and equipping activities.”

In a statement earlier, PAC chair John Brady said the updates provided to the committee in the opening statements are of “extreme concern”. 

The Sinn Féin TD said tomorrow marks “the 18th substantial completion date for the National Children’s Hospital that has been missed”. 

“This saga cannot be allowed to continue in this way,” he said, adding that Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill’s “out and out blame-BAM approach cannot continue”. 

“We need an updated completion date and the Minister to set out a clear path forward.”