The Damen Hall facility at Loyola University in Chicago will be demolished by Spring 2011, according to school officials. The presence of asbestos requires that the building be abated before demolition can begin. This can add a significant amount of time to the demolition schedule. Exterior demolition is slated to begin before the end of September, and complete demolition is expected to last an additional six months.

Because of the asbestos, the building has to be sealed, wet down and gutted before exterior demolition can begin. The EPA requires these standards in asbestos removal so that people near the demolition site don’t breathe in high levels of asbestos fibers, which can cause lung cancer and pleural mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the lining of the chest and the abdominal cavity caused almost exclusively by asbestos exposure.

Mesothelioma is difficult to detect and almost always fatal. Mesothelioma treatment includes surgery, chemotherapy, radiation or any combination of the three. Once mesothelioma has been detected, life expectancy is usually under a year.

There will be a pedestrian reroute around Damen Hall, with fencing surrounding the building, thereby eliminating a direct route from Mundelein Hall to the East Quad in order to protect passers-by from the site. While this slight inconvenience may not sit well with all, people are generally excited that Damen Hall will be replaced with a new structure.

The replacement building, Cuneo Hall, is scheduled for construction from February 2011 through the 2012 fall semester. It will be a four story building and include general classrooms, group study rooms and lounges. Plus, the plan is to make the building energy efficient and sustainable. Concerns regarding mesothelioma cancer as a result of any exposure to asbestos may not arise for many years, due to the latency period of this cancer.

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