Design Team Selected for Forensic Psychiatric Facility in Pennsylvania

Stantec was selected to be the prime design firm, and has partnered with architecture+, to design the new Southeast Psychiatric Treatment Center at Norristown State Hospital in Pennsylvania. The project will create 270 single-occupant beds in Phase 1 to meet the growing demand in eastern Pennsylvania. As one of only two forensic psychiatric hospitals in the state, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services is meeting the growing demand for forensic beds for decades to come. The transformational new facility will be designed to support a total of 420 beds.

The existing campus houses two psychiatric inpatient buildings. Before work commences on the new building, an abandoned hospital building will be demolished. The current forensic hospital will remain operational until the new facility is built, at which time the old facility will be decommissioned.

The new forensic facility will offer care to individuals involved with the judicial or corrections systems needing psychiatric evaluation or treatment. It will also include a medical unit to address patients’ co-morbidities with behavioral and physical health needs — providing modern standards for forensic psychiatric treatment and reducing the time patients must wait for admission to the hospital. The building will be safe, focus on patient needs and allow for efficient facility operations.

Additional details, including anticipated groundbreaking and completion dates, along with construction partners, have not been announced.