How are a public works contractor’s disputed cost claims assessed, and what do they reveal about the hospital project’s unresolved delivery problems?
Claims sit alongside a sharply higher project cost
Bam, the contractor building the national children’s hospital on the St James’s Hospital site in Dublin, has submitted substantiated claims of about €983 million for disputed costs incurred during the project. The approved project cost has already risen from €987 million to €2.24 billion, although the claims figure should not be treated as a further increase to that budget. The project began in 2016 and has been affected by repeated delays and a deteriorating relationship between Bam and the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, which oversees the development. The scale of the claims indicates that major commercial issues remain unresolved, but it does not establish that Bam is entitled to the amount sought.
The contract process determines what is payable
Under the project’s contractual dispute resolution process, a contractor’s claim is assessed rather than paid automatically. The NPHDB says it is defending claims it considers to be without merit, while the employer’s representative determines what amount, if any, is payable under the contract. To the end of August, the representative had determined and awarded 7 per cent of the claimed total, approximately €110 million. The board was also withholding 15 per cent of payments because there was no compliant programme setting out a completion timeline. The distinction matters in public procurement: a submitted claim records a demand, whereas an award records a contractual determination.
Quality disputes are also holding back completion
The board says Bam’s continued failure to resource the project is the largest contributing factor to delayed completion, with inadequate quality assurance causing time-consuming rework. Over the past 15 months, Bam has had to rework installations including all 316 manual sliding doors, 126 of 244 bathroom pod floors and half of the operating theatre floors. Three operating theatre floors were redone for a third time. The board says 199,700 defects have been addressed, including more than 2,000 fire doors, while approximately 2,000 defects remain. It also says 5,017 of 5,728 rooms meet the contract standard and that the hospital cannot open until quality and compliance matters are resolved.
Both sides dispute responsibility for the delays
Bam has consistently denied that it under-resourced the project and instead blames late-stage design changes by the board for the delays. The contractor says the hospital is in the final stages of commissioning and certification, a process involving the specification, selection and approval of products and systems by multiple parties, including the NPHDB and its design team. The board’s account places greater weight on resourcing, defects and rework. A conciliator has already rejected a near €100 million compensation claim by Bam over disputed construction costs, but other claims remain within the contractual process. No agreed opening deadline has been set, leaving the project’s final delivery date unresolved.
IN NUMBERS
The claims are not awards, and the competing accounts have not been settled in full. Their value, alongside extensive rework and the absence of a compliant completion programme, shows why the project’s cost and opening date remain uncertain.
Reported from irishtimes.com, 2026-09-29. The Tender Wire is published by Otnox.
