Exactly. Unless the scope of the hospital has changed significantly, either the original design was fundamentally flawed, or these last minute design changes are non essential and should be de-scoped.
What sort of half-assed design planning process did they go through?
Were there no consultants or doctors involved at the planning stage?
What sort of half-assed design planning process did they go through?
Were there no consultants or doctors involved at the planning stage?
I know we all like to blame the politicians but within the 900 or so people in the department of health and the 110,000 people employed by the HSE I would hope that they could find a handful who could do the sort of project management needed for this... or know someone who could.Stuff like that seems common enough within HSE led projects, a lot of the times those defining the design don't understand the requirements of the specialist facilities, and those who do understand only get to see the details at a very late stage.
If the Govt accepts this offer, it will lose a lot of face and basically admit it's screwed up the project. Also, the whole debate over location of the hospital will become centre stage again.The contractor responsible for the national children's hospital has said it will opt out from the project if the board responsible for it wishes to re-tender the contract.
BAM Chief Executive Theo Cullinane said if the board wished to "procure the work in some other way" they will "co-operate with them to facilitate this option".
From a report on Newstalk last week, the State will also pay the builders 17m a year for 27 years on top of that 330m.Hospital de Lisboa Oriental, Lisbon, Portugal - PPP Due for Completion 2023 - Total Projected Cost €330M, 875 beds, Cost/Bed €377k
That is the way we do things, a direct copy of the way the Brits do. Politicians are the sacrificial lambs, dispoable, while the ship of permanent government sails on, regardless of the rotten, wood-worm infested, figure head hanging from the bow-sprit.None of this is the ministers fault, his responsibility perhaps, but it is the fault of the civil service.
30 year PPP project from inception - 3-year construction plan, 27-year operating plan.From a report on Newstalk last week, the State will also pay the builders 17m a year for 27 years on top of that 330m.
So €780m in total.
The problem is we don't copy what the UK does. The UK carries out major infrastructural projects by Public Private Partnerships https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/public-private-partnerships and previously by Private Finance Initiatives. We don't do this, or haven't done it successfully, i.e. the way the UK does it. There is a ubiquitous 'not invented here' syndrome in the Irish public sector, whereby foreign success is not ported to Ireland.That is the way we do things, a direct copy of the way the Brits do.