Supreme Court dispute over new Royal Adelaide Hospital deepens as judge demands tour of work site

THE Supreme Court will take a road trip to see the $2.3 billion new Royal Adelaide Hospital first-hand after Justice Malcolm Blue conceded some of the alleged construction defects were “double-Dutch” to him.

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THE Supreme Court will take a road trip to see the $2.3 billion new Royal Adelaide Hospital first-hand after Justice Malcolm Blue conceded some of the alleged construction defects were “double-Dutch” to him.

Justice Blue said he was not a building expert and while photos were useful, a tour of the hospital would be better.

“It might give me a better idea of what the issues are,” he said.

“At the moment they’re all really double-Dutch.”

He made the decision at Monday’s hearing, where the State Government is suing building consortium SA Health Partnership (SAHP) over alleged defects worth around $10 million and subsequent delays to the hospital’s opening.

The court battle centres on whether SAHP or the government is responsible for deciding when the hospital is ready to be handed over.

Monday’s hearing saw seven robed lawyers including three QCs cram the bar table in Court 1, supported by legal teams in the cheaper seats lugging a dozen suitcases of documents.

The new Royal Adelaide Hospital. Picture: Dylan Coker

Tuesday’s tour of nRAH will require these legal teams and Justice Blue to don hard hats, steel-capped boots and high-vis vests.

The over-budget hospital is “complete”, according to the builders, but is at least a year overdue and there is still no official opening date for patients as the court action drags on.

Monday’s court proceedings heard details of five major defects in dispute, after one was withdrawn, including:

FLOOR space for equipment;

A 200-MILLIMETRE ceiling space supposed to be kept vacant for future infrastructure in clinical areas — the definition of clinical area, as well as the actual ceiling space left void, is in dispute;

AIR-CONDITIONING units — the Government is demanding the builders install six extra units at a cost of $4.1 million;

LOADING-DOCK height, which has come in at 2.8m instead of the required 3.5m according to counsel for the government, Dick Whitington QC;

SEWER pipes running through the Primary Data Equipment Room which is central to the nRAH computer systems.

Mr Whitington told the court the computer headquarters room is “a critical piece of infrastructure”.

“There is not supposed to be any risk of water ingress,” he said.

“But in fact there are horizontal sewer pipes across the ceiling and vertical sewer pipes running down the wall of this room.”

As well as suing over the defect, Mr Whitington noted the state would be entitled to damages if a future leak in the pipes damaged the computer equipment.

The hearing covered issues ranging from whether an independent expert was able to determine what the contract covered, to legal minutiae such as if a clause should have the word “that” removed but the word “whether” retained.

It also discussed whether a possibly erroneous clause had become a “Trojan horse” that affected other clauses.

An earlier, separate action in the same court before Justice Blue hinged on whether the State Government reasonably rejected the SAHP “cure plan” to fix problems.

That case was adjourned for mention later this week after the parties announced they had agreed to mediation on December 13-15 before former Supreme Court justice John Sulan QC.

SAHP says — after repeatedly missing deadlines this year — it is on track for technical completion by March which would trigger three months of testing prior to commercial acceptance by the State Government.

The government is saving more than $1 million a day in repayments while commercial acceptance is delayed, and will save around $390 million so far from the year-long delay.

Reports emerged on Monday that builders had allegedly not followed the correct “radiation shielding” requirements in the x-ray department by failing to install floor-to-ceiling lead insulation to protect patients and radiologists.

CFMEU secretary Aaron Cartledge said the specifications for the floor-to-floor cladding had changed during construction.

“At the start (of project) the specifications were different to what they were at the end of it,’’ he said.

“Whether that’s right up to the global standard or not is a question the (Health) Minister and those consulting with the Government should have to answer.”