The case summarized Former employees at the New Stavanger University Hospital (New SUS) have reported conflicts and delays in the construction project several years ago. They believe that poor management, a lack of project management and a harassing working environment are among the main causes of the problems. An ongoing conflict between Helse Stavanger and the contractor Bravida has led to the move to the new hospital being postponed indefinitely. Former employees believe that the project was started too early and that there have been major shortcomings in all assignments. According to the Managing Director at SUS, Helle Schøyen, Bravida has not followed the progress plan that was planned for autumn 2022. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – This was a predicted disaster. It didn’t come as a shock and I think it’s going to get a lot worse. This is not finished, and there will be new claims and new court cases, says “Ole” to news. He has previously been employed during the construction of New Stavanger University Hospital (New SUS) at Ullandhaug. In January, it became clear that a conflict between Helse Stavanger and the contractor Bravida is once again leading to the move to the new hospital being postponed indefinitely. The former employees of the construction project with whom news has been in contact believe that a lack of expertise is one of the main reasons for the disagreements between Nye SUS and the contractors. New Stavanger University Hospital Norway’s largest construction project on land. The first construction phase was scheduled to be ready in May 2025 and have a price tag of NOK 11.3 billion. The move-in has now been postponed indefinitely. Originally, the plan was for all operations to be moved from the current hospital on Våland to the new building on Ullandhaug by 2030, but now the final move date is uncertain. The first construction stage is planned to be 125,000 square meters and have 640 private rooms with private bathrooms. The second construction stage is estimated to cost 11.1 billion kroner in 2021 and to be 100,000 square meters. Source: Helse Stavanger – They are not done designing when they put assignments out to tender. The description is perhaps 40 percent complete when they are posted. There are mostly major deficiencies in all the assignments, says “Olav”. Helle Schøyen, managing director at SUS, has submitted all points of criticism. Read her answer further down in the case. The new Stavanger University Hospital is referred to as Norway’s largest construction project. The first construction stage of 125,000 square meters has been completed on the outside. Photo: Helse Stavanger Believes Helse Stavanger has failed The conflict between New SUS and Bravida means that the old conflict at New SUS suddenly becomes much more relevant. Former construction project employees believed at the time that poor management and the working environment were largely to blame for the budget gap of half a billion kroner in 2022. Among other things, a former project manager warned that it would all end with large budget gaps if action was not taken in the summer of 2021. At the same time, he predicted the former employees that this was only the beginning of the problems surrounding the new hospital, and that more delays were on the way. Divisional director Ronny Øvrevik in Bravida Norway believes that Helse Stavanger has failed in planning, coordination and progress. – In sum, it has led to significant delays and cost overruns that have been discussed in the media in recent years, says Øvrevik. Division director Ronny Øvrevik in Bravida Norge says that they relate to the agreement that was entered into in the autumn of 2023 for completion in the autumn of 2024. Therefore, they have around 200 employees on the project now. Photo: Erlend Handeland Tuastad / news Now the ongoing conflict with the electrical contractor means that the move-in has been postponed indefinitely. – Indication that something is terribly wrong – We warned about this two years ago. If the project management had listened to us at the time, it could have been flagged much earlier. If it had been tackled earlier, we would have avoided what we see today, says “Arne”. “Ole”, “Olav” and “Arne”, who speak out in this case, have previously been involved in the project. The names are not their real names. news knows their identities. – The biggest mistake is that they started building far too early. Then changes were to be made in the middle of the race. At the start of the project, we called it “SUS 2023”. Now it is “SUS 2025”. That in itself is an indication that something is terribly wrong, says “Ole”. The consulting company BDO has examined the notice for Helse Stavanger. At the time, news was not given access to the classified report. news doesn’t get that either now. – In 2021, we handled a notification case that dealt with both the working environment and conditions related to the implementation of the project itself. The notice was thoroughly investigated by BDO. Both the report from there and an internal audit report from Deloitte conclude with good management of the project, says Helle Schøyen, managing director at SUS. Helle Schøyen, managing director at SUS, says it is not unusual that in such large construction projects there are disagreements due to different interpretations of the contract and disputes over the settlement of settlements. Photo: Erlend Handeland Tuastad / news Hospital director Schøyen tells news that the tender documents are ready when they are put out to tender. – However, we have a process where we enter into a contract early on to ensure that input from the contractor will be included in the detailed design. This is to avoid having to design 125,000 m² in detail again once the contractor and product have been chosen, she says. Several legal conflicts for Nye SUS The problems have been in the queue for the construction project Nye SUS, and there have been several legal conflicts. New Stavanger University Hospital There have been several cases surrounding New Stavanger University Hospital. In this timeline you can get an overview of the central conflicts surrounding the construction of the hospital. In the summer of 2021, a former project manager warned of poor management, a lack of project management and a harassing work environment, and links this to a budget gap the hospital was heading towards. The Health Stavanger director acknowledges that there are many challenges with the construction of New SUS, but emphasizes that the pandemic and the war in Ukraine are the main reasons for the possible cost overruns. The new SUS runs on a budget of NOK 450 million. The hospital was originally supposed to be put into operation in 2024, but is now both postponed and far more expensive than planned. The shop stewards at the hospital fear that it will affect the patients. Faber Bygg is demanding a total of almost NOK 7.4 million. The dispute is about how much the builder should have paid for the design of the hospital’s facades. Helse Stavanger HF is acquitted, and Faber Bygg must pay NOK 1.5 million to Helse Stavanger in legal costs. Faber Bygg is appealing the verdict, and it is scheduled in the Gulating Court of Appeal starting on 15 April 2024. Bravida is suing Helse Stavanger and demanding between NOK 200 and 250 million for extra work on the project. Helse Stavanger reports that the move-in to the new SUS has been postponed and accuses Bravida of delaying the entire completion. Bravida distances itself from this and points out that the client has full responsibility for planning, coordination and progress. Sør-Rogaland district court has set aside three months for the dispute between Kruse Smith Entreprenør AS (now belonging to Backe) and Helse Stavanger HF. Managing director Sjur Hana tells Stavanger Aftenblad that it is about NOK 100 million. The case is about the interpretation of contracts, especially in situations where changes have occurred along the way. Show more Schøyen says they manage large public resources and cannot accept demands that they believe are included in the contracts. According to Schøyen, Bravida has not followed the progress plan that was planned for autumn 2022. – In the summer of 2023, extensive work was done at the request of Bravida to re-plan and prepare a new management plan so that Bravida’s remaining work could be carried out according to this new management plan, she says . She says that the electrical contractor has also failed to follow the plan from 2023, and that the delays and lack of information from Bravida are the reason for the postponement. Øvrevik says that Bravida has never experienced similar conflicts before. – That says enough about our experience of the relationship with the client. The summons we have now issued is the second against Helse Stavanger in this ongoing project. It has never happened before. – Blaming an individual actor, regardless of whether it is us or others, for a delay is irresponsible. It is particularly serious that it is a public enterprise that does it, says Øvrevik. It is important that all parties work to resolve conflicts. news has tried to ask outside professionals with construction projects as a special field about New SUS, but it has proven to be difficult. Several people news has contacted do not want to comment on the project. Managing director Nina Solli at NHO Byggenæringen. Photo: National Association of the Building Industry Managing Director Nina Solli of NHO Building Industry says that it is important that all parties work to ensure that disagreements that arise in projects with time and cost consequences are resolved along the way. – No one benefits from major, unresolved disagreements in public projects. We are concerned that there is good cooperation between public developers and the industry. Many conflicts in projects can be avoided by using balanced contracts and through the standard contracts’ dispute resolution mechanisms.
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