UCI Health Opens All-Electric Hospital

UCI Health opened the nation’s first all-electric acute care hospital in December of 2025 in Irvine, Calif. Designed by CO Architects, the 350,000-sf facility offers specialties in cardiology, oncology, digestive health, neurology, orthopedics, and spine care. A garden-level ‘mega-floor’ spanning 56,000 sf unites 15 standard operating rooms, five interventional procedure rooms, four advanced multispecialty interventional suites, and 64 pre-op and recovery beds. A strategic configuration allows patients to move easily between outpatient and inpatient settings, while optimizing workers’ access to instruments and supplies in a central sterile core to enhance efficiency.

The 144-bed building is home to Orange County’s first inpatient bone marrow transplant and cellular therapy program, which incorporates comprehensive imaging, laboratory, pathology, and pharmacy services. A 24-hour emergency department with 20 treatment rooms serves the local community seven days a week. Each patient floor accommodates large collaboration venues, physician on-call rooms, flexible workspaces, and private staff areas.

Targeting LEED Platinum certification, the seven-story structure is powered by 100 percent clean electricity from renewable sources and onsite photovoltaic arrays. Other sustainability measures include a highly efficient building envelope, integrated energy-saving equipment, and rainwater collection. A central utility plant provides cooling and hot water, as well as recycling heat from hospital operations to warm the biophilic development and minimize overall environmental impact.

Hensel Phelps broke ground on the design-build project in November of 2021, with Tk1sc (a WSP company) performing engineering services. This pioneering health destination represents the final phase of the $1.3 billion medical complex that also comprises the Joe C. Wen & Family Center for Advanced Care and the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Ambulatory Care building, both of which opened in 2024.