State officials are looking into “construction issues” that have halted work at the new forensic psychiatric hospital being built on Clinton Street, Gov. Kelly Ayotte said at a Wednesday press conference.

“I’m not a construction expert, but there are some issues that have arisen there about some of the work that has been done. That’s why it has ceased right now,” she said. “The Department of Health and Human Services is working along with the Attorney General’s office on that.”

Ayotte said the work halt “is going to have some impact on the final outcome in terms of when it’s delivered” but made no further details available.

Charlie Arlinghaus, commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services, the agency that manages many state government construction projects, told the Monitor in early April that construction had encountered no major problems and was on schedule to be finished by the end of 2026 or early 2027.

The 24-bed, 41,000-square-foot facility will be the state’s first forensic psychiatric hospital.

It will cater to defendants in the criminal justice system who suffer from severe mental illness, to those who are deemed unfit to stand trial due to mental health challenges and to people who are civilly committed to treatment. All of those require stricter safety protocols than are standard.

It is being built next to New Hampshire Hospital, an inpatient psychiatric facility on Clinton Street in south Concord.

The total project is budgeted for $41.9 million. The general contractor is PC Construction of Vermont. 

David Brooks can be reached at dbrooks@cmonitor.com