When one of the panels holding the 150-foot long Angelo di Benedetto mural snapped as it was being removed from the Colorado State Judicial Building, workers got a big surprise.
“Everybody said, ‘Wait a minute! This isn’t wood.’ The panels are on a material that is 30 percent asbestos,” said Bill Mosher, managing director of developer Trammel Crow who is managing the courthouse project.
The judicial building is coming down to make way for a new courts complex. The asbestos is non-friable, meaning it poses no risk unless panels are broken, Mosher said. “After lots of discussion and talk with attorneys and the state Health Department, we decided we are going to continue to remove it and try to store it in a safe manner,” he said.
The work site will have to be surrounded with material to contain any asbestos that does get knocked off from migrating. The hitch shouldn’t delay the demolition, which is set to be completed by the end of August.
