Work should finally restart on the forensic psychiatric facility on Clinton Street now that a nine-month dispute over the foundation’s capacity to support the two-story building has been settled for $9.9 million.
The settlement doesn’t admit fault but acknowledges that work needs to be done to correct “the error in the design of the structural system impacting the load-bearing capacity” of the structure made by SMRT, a Maine architectural and engineering firm.
The 24-bed, 41,000-square-foot facility alongside the New Hampshire Hospital will be the state’s first forensic psychiatric hospital for patients who require stricter safety protocols due to concerns about harm. Work started in 2024, but in May of this year, the Attorney General’s Office issued a statement saying “a foundation design error discovered during construction of the new Forensic Hospital has temporarily paused some work.”
An email update to the New Hampshire Hospital Executive Leadership team said work would “include drilling approximately 70 additional pilings” to support the building, and “other foundation repair is expected to start in late June/early July,” but little or nothing occurred at the site since.
No updates were provided until earlier this month, when the Department of Administrative Services said a settlement of $9.9 million from SMRT’s liability insurance carrier had been reached. The money will be paid to the state.
The total project is budgeted for $41.9 million. The general contractor is PC Construction of Vermont.
The facility is adjacent to the existing New Hampshire Hospital, an inpatient psychiatric facility. It will cater to defendants in the criminal justice system who suffer from severe mental illness, those who are deemed unfit to stand trial due to mental health challenges, and people who are civilly committed to treatment.
The site was formerly the visitor parking lot for New Hampshire Hospital.