Santa Clara County lacked a unified facility for psychiatric care — patients in crisis moved between disconnected services, and no single location could handle inpatient, urgent, and emergency psychiatric needs across children, adolescents, and adults simultaneously. The Behavioral Health Services Center at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center is the first facility in the county to consolidate all three. The program includes a 66-bed acute psychiatric hospital, a 50-bed emergency psychiatric facility, a mental health urgent care center, and extensive clinical support areas — connected to the existing campus via a new tunnel to the receiving and support center and a sky bridge to the main hospital.

Delivering a four-level, 207,000-SF structure on an active medical campus introduced compounding constraints at every phase. Crane operations required radio coordination with hospital dispatch to pause and retract the boom whenever helicopters approached the adjacent emergency helipad — a layer of real-time logistics woven into the daily construction schedule. Webcor also led a $36M utility relocation scope added by SCVMC to enable a future Emergency Department expansion: six elevation-based trenching phases reaching 23 feet deep, four phases of shoring, coordinated utility shutdowns, and temporary bypasses across storm drain, sewer, water, gas, electrical, and medical gas systems — all executed without interrupting hospital operations. Off-site-fabricated pedestrian bridges were craned into place to preserve ER access during trenching. Through 3D modeling and proactive design coordination, the team avoided more than $1M in temporary medical gas costs.

The exterior envelope added another layer of technical complexity. A terracotta cladding system required precise sequencing around MEP rough-in, careful compatibility management across waterproofing membranes and sealants from multiple manufacturers, and exacting installation given the material's fragility and sensitivity to dirt. Interior systems were equally demanding: the MEP design includes air source heat pumps interlocked with domestic water source heat pumps, a master-trol system at patient plumbing fixtures, and over 700 Phoenix valves — with no VAVs throughout. Every patient space was designed and built to Level 5 psychiatric anti-ligature standards, covering smooth edges, ligature resistance to scratching, hanging, picking, and load capacities. Full-scale patient room mock-ups were constructed early in the project to evaluate finishes, sightlines, and anti-ligature features under real-world conditions — allowing the clinical team to validate safety and functionality before construction committed to the approach. HCAI/OSHPD oversight governed the full scope, with strict inspection protocols applied throughout.

The County of Santa Clara has described the project as one of the most significant behavioral health investments in the region's history.