The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) has advised that the acoustic issues in parts of the ventilation system in the National Children's Hospital Ireland (NCHI) were caused by poor workmanship and coordination of the works on behalf of BAM Ireland.
Despite being aware of these issues for over a year, remediation by BAM and its subcontractor has only recently begun. This matter and its resolution is entirely the responsibility of BAM. While these defects can and will be remedied, they are delaying the completion of the hospital.
The public enquiry into the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Glasgow, is ongoing, and its outcome report and findings will likely not be available for some time. However, the NPHDB has been tracking the purported issues raised within the enquiry as part of its due diligence to avoid similar issues arising within the NCHI.
Throughout the design and construction process, the NPHDB has sought to understand issues that have arisen at other international hospitals of similar scale and complexity, and to adopt any appropriate lessons learned. The NPHDB has been clear that the purported issues raised in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Glasgow enquiry regarding ventilation system air change rates and the selection of isolation rooms for immunocompromised patients are not an issue for NCHI. The NPHDB has advised that the design of the NCHI is compliant with the recommendations set out in the Health Technical Memoranda and has been agreed with Children’s Health Ireland.
The responsibility to review and validate BAM’s Work as compliant with the Contract rests with the Design Team and the Employer’s Representative, not with the any individual member of the NPHDB. The NPHDB has advised that the individual referenced by the Deputy has no responsibility for contractual matters and therefore there is no conflict of interest arising from the matters raised by the Deputy.
