The San Raffaele concept was to have a 450 to 480 bed hospital, a centre of excellence complementing St Luke’s Hospital. It would have had a total floor area of 54,000 sq metres, 17 in-patient specialities, 16 operating theatres, two wards, 2,200 sq metres of office floor area, 50 car parking spaces, a total energy demand of 8 MVA, with a 4 MVA stand-by generation; 3,900 litres of water storage, 33 lifts, 3,325 telephone and data points and 1,360 fire fighting sprinkler points.
The Labour government’s concept proposed a hospital for between 800 and 1000 beds. Most of the data supporting this concept have proved impossible to find. Some of the information may have been misplaced following the change of government but in many cases it seems clear that the information is unavailable because the specific estimates were not finalised by the end of the Labour government’s tenure. It would be fair, however, to assume that the features for the Labour government’s concept of the new hospital and the Mater Dei Hospital would be approximately the same. Since this concept sought to incorporate most of the changes in the pre-identified San Raffaele footprint, the result has been that the hospital is a cramped collection of buildings.
What is known of the Labour Party’s concept, apart from the amount of beds, is that the departmental floor area would be 107,000 sq metres; there would be 1,500 car parking spaces and a total cooling load of 20 MW.
The Mater Dei concept, as fleshed out post-1998, speaks of a hospital with 650 to 825 beds.
It occupies a total site area of 197,300 sq metres with a total building floor area of 250,000 sq metres and a departmental floor area of 118,000 sq metres.
It will have 31 in-patient specialities, 24 operating theatres and 40 wards.
The office floor area will be 4,400 sq metres and there will be car parking spaces for 1,600 cars.
The total energy demand is of 19 MVA with a standby generation of 9 MVA and water storage of 7,650 litres.
There will be 52 lifts and 7,048 telephone and data points and 3,500 fire fighting sprinkler points.
Costs: a comparison
The total hospital cost of the San Raffaele hospital would have been Lm51 million, excluding costs for a drainage system, according to government estimates seen by The Malta Independent on Sunday.
The estimated costs for the Mater Dei Hospital are at Lm187,153,000, not including the Design and Build approved and non-approved variations, but including medical equipment and furniture and the like. Some of these variations were necessary in order to render a better quality of health care following the feedback which the FMS obtained from no less than 55 commissioning teams all made up of sectoral professionals who themselves provided their expert knowledge to the produced designs.
As for the Labour government concept, the total hospital cost is unknown but Norman & Dawbarn have said that the Lm100 million estimate includes only construction. This means that for most of the other items it would be fair to conclude that the expense would have been approximately the same as for Mater Dei Hospital, at least as long as similar and not inferior equipment would have been purchased.
The Mater Dei Hospital concept has also carried the burden, estimated at Lm2,428,000 for demolitions or alterations due to the 1997 concept changes from a specialised to a general acute hospital, as stated in PQ 3473.
As to the building tender cost, the San Raffaele concept was of Lm32 million, VAT included while the Mater Dei concept is for Lm83 million, VAT not included.
The Labour government concept would have cost Lm100 million, that is Lm70 million more than for the San Raffaele hospital, according to a non-detailed estimate made by Anschen Dyer Architects.
Breaking down the total cost into component items:
1. Land: The Mater Dei concept spent Lm2,166,000 so far and a few other increases are expected. It is estimated that the Labour government concept would cost approximately the same. The San Raffaele concept would have cost approximately 25 per cent less than Mater Dei.
Skanska old contract’s construction costs would not have applied to the San Raffaele concept. It is the same for the Labour government concept and the Mater Dei concept: Lm17,948,000, that is Lm15,607,000 plus Lm2,341,000 VAT until, in Labour’s case, the hospital project was re-evaluated.
2. The Design and Build contract would have cost Lm31,175,000 for the San Raffaele concept.
It costs Lm98,377,000 for the Mater Dei concept: Lm83,625,000 for work packages, Lm4,800,000 for design, Lm5 million in management fees and Lm4,952,000 VAT.
The Labour government concept would have cost Lm100,000,000 for work packages alone, plus Lm3,900,00 for design and Lm9,000,000 in management fees. Norman & Dawburn say that the Lm100 million estimate includes only construction. For most of the other items it would be fair to conclude that the expense would have been approximately the same as for Mater Dei, should similar and not inferior equipment be purchased.
3. Capitalisation of project expenses: (Mater Dei Hospital only) Lm12,866,000.
4. Electrical Distribution Centre(Mater Dei Hospital only): Lm480,000
5. Sewage connection (Mater Dei Hospital only): Lm185,000.
6. Waste Decontamination (Mater Dei Hospital only): Lm590,000.
7. Information Technology System (Mater Dei hospital only): Lm14,043,000
8. Medical equipment: This would have cost the San Raffaele concept Lm12 million, including furniture. It will cost the Mater Dei Hospital Lm31,502,000, that is Lm27 million and VAT.
As for the Labour government concept, it is fair to estimate that it would be at Mater Dei Hospital levels, if not more expensive due to that hospital having 200 hospital beds more.
9. Furniture (Mater Dei Hospital only): Lm4,962,000.
10. Storage and Logistics: (Mater Dei Hospital only): Lm1,416,000.
11. Telephones: (Mater Dei Hospital only): Lm178,000.
12. Portable fire extinguishers: (Mater Dei Hospital only): Lm80,000.
13. Surgical equipment: (Mater Dei Hospital only): Lm2,360,000.