Earlier this week, The Irish Times asked the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) why the minutes of its meetings for 2022 were not online.
A spokeswoman replied saying this was an “oversight”. Shortly after, the minutes of meetings up to April were placed on its website.
The NPHDB minutes do not in general reveal much about the huge problems experienced by this project, as large sections — especially those relating to commercial matters — are blanked out. The public still does not know how much the controversial project will ultimately cost. It was originally expected to cost €650 million but has already outspent the €1.43 billion construction budget. Most observers expect the final price to come in at more than €2 billion.
[ Part of children’s hospital facade replaced over ‘non-compliant’ insulationOpens in new window ]
While financial details are redacted from the minutes, they can shed light on other problems that have arisen during construction.
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At a meeting held last January 12th, the board advised of a “quality control issue” between BAM and Kingspan in relation to the delivery and installation of “non-compliant board” in an area of the new hospital building. Members were told that investigations of the matter, “including its implications”, were ongoing and a number of options were being considered.
One member queried whether the same non-compliant board had been used in other areas of the building. NPHDB, which is overseeing the project, was told BAM had been asked to confirm what steps would be taken to prevent a reoccurrence of the issue.
Replacing the board was not expected to affect the overall building programme but this would be confirmed as part of “ongoing discussions”, the minutes state.
“It was clarified that remediation of the issue, including any commercial considerations, was a matter for the Main Contractor (Bam) where they were contracted to the NPHDB to provide the contracted materials.
“The Board referred to tragedies involving buildings in other jurisdictions where non-compliant materials were used, and indicated the Main Contractor needed to replace the non-compliant material with material that met standards.”
The board minutes show it knew last January that the non-compliant material had been installed. In February, when The Irish Times submitted questions on this issue to the NPHDB, this was not made clear.
“Bam has assured the NPHDB that it is taking the necessary steps to ensure this consignment will not be part of the completed hospital,” a spokesman said at the time. He declined to answer follow-up questions about whether the K15 board had been installed or would be removed.
BAM declined to comment, saying it was precluded from doing so under the terms of its contact.
K15 insulation board is a popular building product made from a combustible plastic called phenolic foam. The NPHDB has previously said phenolic insulation, “encapsulated within vertical and horizontal fire cavity barriers”, is specified in the design for the granite rainscreen cladding system for the lower facade of the new children’s hospital.
This part of the building ranges from three to four storeys and so does not exceed 18m, the height under which it is deemed safe to use the product, it told the Irish Examiner in 2021. The higher parts of the building use mineral fibre insulation.
An inquiry into the 2017 Grenfell tragedy in London, in which 72 people died in a fire in a high-rise block of flats, found the main cause of the fire was the ACM PE cladding outside the insulating layer. Kingspan argues this cladding, which it did not make or supply, was not safe for use with either combustible or non-combustible (mineral fibre) insulation.
