National Forensic Mental Health Facility
St. Ita’s Campus, Portrane, Co.Dublin
Project Details
Client: Health Service Executive
Architect: Scott Tallon Walker
Contractor: Rhatigan/OHL JV
Value: €140M
Services Provided: Civil & Structural Engineering, Traffic Engineering Services
Category: Healthcare, Award-Winning Project
Project Duration: 2012 – 2020
Project Description
Winner of the ACEI Environmental Sustainability Natural Environment Award in 2022, the National Forensic Mental Health Service (NFMHS) Hospital is a model for environmental responsibility within the healthcare sector. This hospital features several key facilities, including a 130-bedroom National Forensic Hospital, a 10-bedroom Forensic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit, and a 30-bedroom Intensive Care Rehabilitation Unit, all situated on a single campus.
The newly developed NFMHS Hospital includes eight single-storey buildings and one two-storey building, with a total of 170 bedrooms. The project also integrated ancillary transformers, switchrooms, energy buildings, maintenance and engineering buildings, and horticulture buildings, covering a gross floor space of approximately 25,324 square meters. This development is complemented by thorough site works, landscaping, and lighting.
The buildings are arranged around a central landscaped area that interlinks them. Designed with internal secure landscaped courtyards, they allow natural light to permeate, creating safe and pleasant spaces for patients. An internal access road runs behind each building. Except for the Intensive Care Rehabilitation Unit and the Child and Adolescent Mental Health building, all other structures are surrounded by a 5.2m high security fence.
Serving as the main psychiatric treatment centre in the state under high and medium security conditions, the NFMHS Hospital provides acute, medium, and long-term psychiatric care. It succeeds the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum. Located within the St. Ita’s Hospital complex, which spans approximately 112 hectares, the NFMHS Hospital occupies roughly 13 hectares in the western section.
In its commitment to sustainability, the development has achieved BREEAM Excellent Certification, underscoring its dedication to environmental excellence.