The Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee on the 31st January 2019, and the Health Committee (16th January 2019) were given the breakdown by the NPHDB of the €1.7 billion expected cost (as of January 2019) of completing the project :
Total Construction cost €1,093,800,000, with the non construction costs bringing the total Building cost to €1,433,000,000. Other costs managed by Children’s Health Ireland of €293,000,000 gave a final total cost [as of 31.01.2019] of €1,700,000,000.
Cost per sq metre : This is the construction cost per metre of gross internal area. The Ambulatory /Urgent Care Centres : – €60million (cost of the two AUCCs inc VAT) of the total construction cost . Cost per sqm of AUCCs is €5586.
Main Hospital at St. James’s : – The remaining €1,033,800,000 of the Total Construction Cost is the construction cost of the main hospital. Gross internal area is 119,368sq m. Using figures supplied by the NPHDB as of 16. 01.2019 to the Health Committee and 31.01.2019 to the Public Accounts Committee,the New Children’s Hospital Alliance estimates that the cost per sq m is €8708 (not €6,500 as claimed by the NPHDB). This will further increase if construction inflation rises (as is anticipated) above 4% as from July 2019 . Other costs-VAT, design changes etc which are outwith the GMP (Guaranteed maximum price) are also expected .
It would appear that the NPHDB chose to include the area of the car park as part of the gross internal area, contrary to estimates for international comparator hospitals – thus falsely lowering the cost per sq. metre. The AECOM international comparator hospital document lists the most expensive hospital as being €8000 per msq. The Dublin NCH is the most expensive of all the hospitals studied.