Hospital demolition work begins + Photos

Old Jubilee Photo/File

Demolition of Wanganui's Jubilee Hospital is expected to take 12 to 14 weeks and require six Wanganui labourers, WPBH Earthmoving director Grant Reid says.

The Waikato-based company won the tender for the demolition. It knew Whanganui Maori wanted the site, and kept the tribe informed from day one.

The result was a physical and spiritual clearing ceremony that involved the entire roll of nearby Churton School, and was followed by a $1200 catered lunch provided to the children and other local people in the school hall.

Mr Reid said it all made for a really good day.

"It's just the new way of doing something. A lot of other contractors don't do it."

The company plans to strip everything usable out of the building before it is demolished, give surplus timber away as firewood and employ local labourers.

Part of the building has an asbestos roof and asbestos pipe lagging. Rick Peebles, of Asbestos Solutions, will handle that side of the job.

He said the asbestos in the roof was in a bonded form and it would be no problem to remove. However, asbestos in the pipe lagging could crumble and would have to be handled carefully.

Despite there being lots of rules around handling asbestos, it was no problem if done properly, Mr Peebles said. "We'll have a hygienist here who tests the air. There will be none left by the time the digger moves in."

The Office of Treaty Settlements is progressively clearing deteriorating buildings from landbanked sites, a spokeswoman said.