As part of the $1.9 million renovations on the old Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, Facilities Operations and Management removed large quantities of asbestos.
The building "has been mothballed," said Brenda Freeland, a drafter and asbestos coordinator with Facilities Operations and Management.
Facilities Management removed asbestos from ceiling tiles, steam piping, wire coverings and from plaster in the walls of the oldest parts of the 100-year old hospital, Freeland said.
Martha O'Brien of DEMTEC, the contractors in charge of the removal, said they removed "dumpsters of asbestos."
Asbestos, a cancer-causing substance previously used as insulation, is removed before the demolition of buildings to prevent its dispersal into the air.
Now all that remains in the buildings are the radiation and oncology department of the Norris Cotton Cancer Center on the first floor and various College offices on the second floor.
Asbestos was not removed from the radiation department because of the sensitivity of the instruments operating there, Freeland said.
Once the department has relocated, the remaining asbestos should take between four and five months to remove, Freeland said.
Facilities Management has sealed the rest of the building and turned off the power.
"For now our policy is to maintain the building until its demolition in two to three years," Freeland said.
Contractors will begin bidding for the demolition in about a year, Freeland said.
The radiation treatment department of the Norris Cotton Cancer Center will remain in the old hospital until a new $14.1 million building in the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is ready in the next three years.
The hospital was relocated to the DHMC after the town of Hanover rejected expansion plans for the old hospital in 1986.
