The construction of Mary Elizabeth’s Hospital is financially challenged, primarily due to many errors and shortcomings in the descriptions and technical drawings that contractors work from.
This has resulted in a high volume of enquiries from contractors and has required changes to the material, which is both expensive and delays the work. At the same time, ongoing fire inspections have revealed that the fire protection in certain parts of the building has not been carried out correctly in accordance with current regulations and therefore requires modification, which is also costly.
The fire issues are now being investigated further. Construction, like all construction, is also challenged by high prices in the construction market and difficulties in finding skilled labour.
“It’s an incredibly frustrating and unsatisfactory situation. Part of the challenges are due to the market situation, but it’s only been six months since we injected DKK 600 million into the project."
"As we stand here again, I can only conclude that we didn’t get a thorough enough overview of the challenges in December last year. I believe that I can promise, on behalf of all parties, that we will further intensify our follow-up on this and our other construction projects to ensure that we have the necessary internal and external resources within the construction organisations to complete the projects without any further expensive errors and defects. There must be control of the construction projects,” says Regional Council Chairman Lars Gaardhøj (Social Democratic Party).
CEO of the Centre for Real Estate (CEJ), Mogens Kornbo, shares the Regional Council Chairman’s frustration:
“The construction of Mary Elizabeth’s Hospital has already become significantly more expensive due to the high prices in the construction market over the last few years, so it’s even more painful when we find many errors and defects in the project material that cost us dearly. The external advice we have on the construction project has not been sufficient, which is why we are also allocating extra money to strengthen the construction management team internally,” says Mogens Kornbo.
A good financial agreement with the state allows the Region’s renovation plan to continue
Although the Region is now allocating DKK 795 million to Mary Elizabeth’s Hospital, there will still be construction funds in next year’s budget to continue the vital work of renovating the Region’s old hospitals.
“We have entered into an excellent agreement with the Government that allows us to fund the challenges at Mary Elizabeth’s Hospital and still have funds to continue renovating our old and tired hospitals. That said, construction budgets are still under pressure in the coming years,” says Lars Gaardhøj (Social Democratic Party), Chairman of the Regional Council.
Facts
Proposals for the Capital Region of Denmark’s budget for 2026 to 2028 were discussed for the first time in the Region’s Executive Committee on 26 August, and the Regional Council will make a final decision on 30 September.
- In addition to covering the consequences of errors and omissions in the project material, the DKK 795 million will also be spent on additional reserves, adapting fire conditions, upgrading project staffing and costs associated with the delay. Furthermore, a developer reserve of DKK 87 million has been allocated to the project.
- The Region has decided to establish an operational construction advisory board to provide external advice and ongoing dialogue on the project’s strategic choices, stages, and progress
- Mary Elizabeth’s Hospital is being built in a partnership between Rigshospitalet, the Capital Region of Denmark and Ole Kirk’s Foundation
- With the new schedule, the hospital is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2027, 3.5 years later than initially planned.
- With the latest addition to the budget, the total construction budget is approximately DKK 4.5 billion.
For further information
Please contact the Capital Region of Denmark’s press office on +45 70209588 /
presse@regionh.dk