No regrets over decisions taken before Mackintosh fire, say art school bosses

Glasgow School of Art bosses have said they have no regrets about safety decisions taken on the Mackintosh building - despite fire risks being highlighted over a decade before it burned down for a second time.

Built in the late 1890's by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, then a junior draughtsman, the building is widely considered to be his masterpiece. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The building was engulfed in a second major fire in four years in June this year, shortly before it had been due to reopen after a £49 million rebuild following the first blaze in 2014.

Muriel Gray, chair of the board of governors for the GSA, told MSPs on the Culture Committee that the school takes full responsibility for the fire, however it doubts whether decision-making could have been improved.

She said: “We keep asking ourselves, could we have done this better? Is there something we missed? Is there a lesson that we’ve learned that we can take forward? So we are very self-critical and continue to do so.

“I don’t have any regrets about the process. I have massive regrets that these things happened but no, I can’t in all consciousness say there’s something that I would have done differently.”

Prof Irene McAra-McWilliam, GSA’s deputy director (Innovation), told the committee she agrees with the assessment that safety concerns had been addressed sufficiently before the second fire.

MSPs raised concerns that a number of preventative measures were not effectively implemented.

Committee convener Joan McAlpine referenced a federal report into fire safety at the GSA, published in 2006, which highlighted six areas that were deemed to present either a medium or high risk.

The issues were: Likelihood of a fire occurring in the building (medium to high risk); potential for fire to remain undetected (medium to high risk); potential for fire to grow/spread beyond item first ignited (high risk); potential for fire to grow beyond room of origin (high risk); hazard posed by fire (high risk); consequences in the event of the fire spreading (high).

Businesses were forced to close and residents were not allowed to access their homes following the incident in June, and several people affected were in attendance at the committee.

Ms Gray also confirmed plans for the art school to be rebuilt exactly as it was designed 100 years ago.

She said: “Our intention is to bring it back exactly as (Charles Rennie Mackintosh) designed it.

“That will be unique because over the years, there’s been all kinds of bits and pieces done to the Mackintosh that have rendered it not in its original state.

“But now we know exactly how he designed it, what a thrill for the people involved in that, and again the community, to do that from scratch. So that’s rather exciting.

“We are envisaging an absolute Mackintosh building as he designed it.”

As well as the restoration of the building, the art school has proposed extending on to Sauchiehall Street.

MSPs urged GSA chiefs to listen to the views of members of the community, having admitted that initial communication was poor.

Ms Gray said: “I really can’t tell you the kind of suffering that some of the residents have explained and we are massively sympathetic to that.”

Scottish Labour MSP Pauline McLean said: “I think you are deluding yourselves if you think that you have a good relationship with this community.

“If you want to rebuild your relationship with this community, you really need to start telling immediately what your plans are.”