Contractor claims 'have not had a material impact' on children's hospital price, Oireachtas Committee to hear
The chair of the board tasked with overseeing the building of the new national children’s hospital will tell a committee tomorrow that contractor claims “have not had a material impact to date” on the Guaranteed Maximum Price, set at €1.433bn.
In his opening statement to the Joint Oireachtas Health Committee, Fred Barry, chair of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB), will also remind the committee that residual risks remain and that “some of these risks are under our control and some are not”.
He will say they are “actively managing those under our control while monitoring those that are not”.
“One example relates to contractor claims. Contractor claims are a feature of most construction contracts, big and small, including this one.
We are organised to ensure timely and evidenced responses to claims as they arise and are defending the public interest robustly. Contractor claims haven’t had a material impact on the GMP to date.
Mr Barry will also tell the committee that good progress has been made; that a 1,0000 space underground carpark is nearing completion, that the “first window has actually been installed in the hospital” and that across the 12-acre site the excavation, piling, and the structural frame to the underground basement for campus-wide facilities management and energy centre are nearing completion.
NPHDB chief officer David Gunning will give a progress update on building works including that the frame to blocks containing outpatient departments, cardiology wards, therapy and play areas are completed on one section of the site and that the structural frame containing outpatients, Clinical Decontamination Unit, Radiology, Critical Care, and Theatres are also nearing completion.
Last month in a Dáil debate, Health Minister Simon Harris said the capital build cost of the project is €1.433 and “no further increases to this figure have been put to, or agreed to by, the Government”.
He said some of the residual risks identified in a PwC report were likely to materialise, of which the most significant is construction industry inflation.
The Minister said another area that may add to costs "is that of claims being submitted to the board by the main contractor”.(BAM)
He said the contractor is entitled to submit claims "and it is likely that such claims will continue to be put forward for the remainder of the project".
He said they were "commercially sensitive interactions between the contractor and the board" and he was " not in a position to comment any further on them”.
