Project Overview
North Dakota is making a significant long-term investment in behavioral healthcare through the new North Dakota State Hospital Facility Replacement Project in Jamestown. The approximately 300,000-square-foot, 140-bed facility replaces the legacy hospital dating to 1885. The new campus creates a modern, trauma-informed environment that supports client dignity, safety, and recovery, improves the care team’s experience through design and technology, and expands services to meet the state’s evolving needs.
Key Takeaways:
- Modern, Trauma-informed Behavioral Health Campus: A new 300,000 SF, 140‑bed hospital, designed to support dignity, safety, and recovery.
- Consolidated & Expanded Services: Centralizes inpatient psychiatric care, forensic services, substance use treatment, and SOTEP programming into one campus.
- Safety Integrated into Design: Extensive anti‑ligature measures, impact‑ and tamper‑resistant materials, and thoughtfully planned unit layouts ensure safety throughout.
- Estimated Completion Date
December 2027
- Delivery Method
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Construction Manager at Risk
- Additional Project Facts
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300,000 Square Feet
New Construction
Consolidating Services to Support Care Delivery
The new North Dakota State Hospital brings services currently dispersed across multiple aging buildings into a single, purpose-built facility. With 140 inpatient treatment beds—including inpatient psychiatric and SOTEP units—the hospital increases attention to health and healing while improving efficiency, safety, and care coordination.
As the state’s behavioral health safety net, the hospital will continue to provide inpatient psychiatric care, forensic evaluation and restoration services, psychiatric rehabilitation, substance use treatment, and SOTEP programming for North Dakotans statewide.
A New Vision for Behavioral Health
Rather than replicating institutional models of the past, the project team set out to create an environment that reflects dignity, safety, and hope. Guided by national best practices and shaped by direct input from hospital staff, the design supports recovery while recognizing the complex needs of both clients and care teams.
This vision is grounded in a trauma-informed approach that considers how space, light, materials, and movement impact behavioral health outcomes.
This vision is reinforced through a design approach where safety is fully integrated—not added on.
Safety Integrated into Design
Safety is fully integrated into the facility’s design through extensive anti-ligature standards, impact-resistant materials, and tamper-resistant systems in all client-accessible spaces. From unit layouts to hardware selection, each element was chosen to protect clients and support the staff responsible for their care.
Professional, collaborative, subject matter expertise--never strident.
Balancing Daylight, Dignity, and Security
Windows throughout the hospital—including courtyard-facing glass—are constructed from polycarbonate security glazing, a multi-layered, shatter-resistant material that allows natural light to fill each space. This emphasis on daylight is a defining feature of the facility’s design, with every client room incorporating multiple windows to capture both morning and afternoon light. The open atmosphere extends this natural light into shared areas, creating an uplifting environment to support mental, emotional, and physiological healing. Despite their clarity, these windows are engineered to withstand impact—delivering both security and a clean, refined appearance. In addition to enhancing the design, these elements reinforce the hospital’s broader goal: create a space that feels human, hopeful, and restorative.
Accelerating the Schedule Through Prefabrication
To accelerate the project schedule and minimize risk to the building enclosure, the team is leveraging prefabricated exterior wall panels, fully integrated with framing, sheathing, and air/vapor barrier systems. This approach enabled 85 percent of the enclosure to be prefabricated off-site rather than installed sequentially in the field.
Manufactured in a controlled environment, the panels improve quality and consistency while significantly reducing on-site labor demands, jobsite congestion, and overall construction duration.
Supporting the Path Back to Community
Beyond clinical care, the hospital is designed to support rehabilitation and community reintegration — helping clients develop the skills needed to transition successfully back into their communities. Bringing this vision to life, the hospital features a variety of spaces designed to empower recovery and reconnection, including:
- Vocational and teaching spaces
- Therapy rooms
- Library
- Fitness areas
- Outdoor healing environments—including courtyards, walking paths, and therapeutic gardens
A Lasting Investment in Healing
Through intentional planning, integrated safety standards, and a focus on healing, the new North Dakota State Hospital represents a new chapter in behavioral healthcare. More than a facility, the new hospital is a thoughtfully-designed environment built to protect, empower, and support healing for generations to come.
