Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has rejected a claim by construction company BAM that "large areas" of the National Children's Hospital have been finished "since early July" and offered to the NPHDB as "not credible".
The company, responding to earlier comments by Ms Carroll MacNeill in which she repeated concerns about BAM’s ability to meet their programme to complete the hospital, said this afternoon it was disappointed in her comments.
Ms Carroll MacNeill had said that half the number of contractors have been on site in recent months, compared to the end of last year, according to information from the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, who she met this week.
The minister also said funds are being underused by BAM. She said there is provision to draw down €10 million a month for contractors and sub contractors but just over €2.8m to €3m is being drawn down by BAM each month.
In response, BAM said the minister’s remarks indicated that she had only received partial information in relation to the current status of the project, adding that it was 99% complete.
It added that due to the specialist nature of the commissioning work currently under way at this late stage, it is entirely normal that there are fewer personnel on site compared to this time last year.
In relation to the drawdown value, since meeting with the then Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly, in October last year - when a commitment was made that no further design changes would occur - BAM said there have been 84 new and revised design changes.
It said the majority of the remaining work on the project relates to these changes, for which BAM has not received payment.
As a result, BAM has been obliged to initiate the contract's dispute resolution mechanism to secure appropriate compensation, it added.
This evening Ms Carroll MacNeill said BAM’s suggestion that large areas were completely since early July was "not credible", adding that the NPHDB has stated "many of these offered rooms still have open snags" and that "in reality only 800 of these rooms are satisfactory".
This, she said, amounted to less than 15% of the overall number of rooms.
The minister also said the company’s suggestion that ongoing design changes are impacting the completion of the hospital is "not credible, especially given the fact that BAM is claiming that the project is 99% complete".
"It is BAM's responsibility to get its final 1% done," she added.
"What is needed now is for BAM to provide the resources necessary to complete the over 5,800 rooms in this building to the standard set out in the contract and to hand them over to the NPHDB in a logical, methodical and timely manner, first facilitating additional early access as it committed to, and then the timely substantial completion of the entire building," the minister said.
