HSE welcomes Government approval and contractor appointment for new National Maternity Hospital at Elm Park

The HSE welcomes the Government approval today for the new National Maternity Hospital at the St Vincent’s University Hospital Campus at Elm Park, Dublin, which paves the way for the signing of the construction contract and the commencement of construction work on the site. This will enable the HSE to proceed with the appointment of John Sisk & Son as the main contractor for the new hospital and Designer Group as the reserved specialist for the mechanical and electrical works. 

The CEO of the HSE, Anne O’Connor, said: “This is a landmark decision for the future of women’s health in Ireland, and I want to acknowledge and thank colleagues from the National Maternity Hospital, St Vincent’s Healthcare Group, the HSE and Department of Health for their commitment and expertise that has brought this project to this point.”

Welcoming the decision, the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, said: “The new National Maternity Hospital will provide state-of-the-art maternity, neonatal and gynaecological services in a purpose-built facility located alongside the specialist and acute services of St Vincent's University Hospital. This co-location will ensure that women and newborn babies, particularly those with complex clinical needs, have immediate access to the highest levels of specialist care when required.”

The agreement to proceed follows a period of public procurement and a detailed collaboration between the HSE and the preferred tenderers, known as a Pre-Construction Services Agreement (PCSA).  This was designed to review in detail and validate the construction programme before construction begins to bring about as much time and cost certainty as possible before entering into contracts.

Enabling and preliminary works at St Vincent’s University Hospital Campus are now almost complete. The main construction phase will begin in early Q1 2027. The project completion date is 2033.

The National Maternity Hospital at Elm Park will provide advanced women’s healthcare, neonatal intensive care and maternity services for women and babies living in Dublin and the South East. It will also be a national tertiary referral centre, for the most complex cases from maternity units and hospitals around the country.

The new hospital will host one of Europe’s largest colposcopy services, supported by HSE National Screening Service. It will also be a regional centre for fertility services, endometriosis and ambulatory gynaecology.

Ms O’Connor said: “Over 7,000 babies were born at the National Maternity Hospital in 2025. There were more than 128,000 outpatient attendances and over 1,300 babies were cared for in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The quality of care delivered at the Hospital is of the highest standard despite infrastructural constraints, restricted number of patient beds and outdated facilities.

Welcoming today’s announcement, Professor Jennifer Walsh, Master of The National Maternity Hospital, said “This is an important step forward in realising our goal of providing women and babies with a new National Maternity Hospital at Elm Park. In addition to providing maternity care, the National Maternity Hospital cares for women across every stage of reproductive and gynaecological health, supporting them through the many different stages of life. The new hospital is designed to provide modern, state of the art clinical facilities in which to provide world class care. So importantly, it will also give our patients the privacy, space and dignity they expect and deserve. For our dedicated staff, it will allow them to work in facilities designed to meet the needs of modern healthcare. While the development is progressing, the National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street will continue to provide the excellent care to women and babies that we have for generations.”

Conall O’Halloran, Chair of St Vincent’s Healthcare Group, said: “St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group welcome the approval of the final business case for the development of the new National Maternity Hospital on SVHG’s St Vincent’s Elm Park campus. The new hospital will form an integral part of the campus, bringing maternity, neonatal and gynaecological care alongside the acute, critical care and specialist services provided by St. Vincent’s University Hospital. This will give women and babies, particularly those with complex clinical needs, immediate access to a comprehensive range of specialist care.

“Teams across St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group have been working closely with the HSE and the National Maternity Hospital to prepare the campus for construction while maintaining services for our patients. With enabling works now well advanced, we look forward to working with all partners as the project moves into the next phase.”

Paul Brown, CEO of Sisk, said: “Sisk is an Irish family-owned business with an extensive track record of delivering complex public healthcare projects across Ireland and the UK, supporting the expansion of capacity, modernising facilities and maintaining uninterrupted patient services during construction.

“We are pleased to have been appointed as delivery partner by the HSE to lead the delivery of this vital piece of healthcare infrastructure. Our experience across multiple recent healthcare projects in Ireland and our collaborative approach to working with all the relevant stakeholders, gives me confidence we will deliver a project that will enhance healthcare resilience, improve patient outcomes and increase access to care for the women of Ireland and their families.”