A June 2018 fire destroyed the iconic Category A-listed Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh building as it neared the end of a multi-million pound restoration project following an earlier blaze in May 2014.
While GSA says it is committed to a reinstatement of the masterpiece originally designed by renowned Scots architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the project is now subject to a delay of at least two-and-a-half years amidst a series of legal wrangles and insurance payout problems.
Torcuil Crichton, the MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar has taken his concerns about the lack of progress to the UK Government department for Culture, Media and Sport told the government that in raising the loss of the Mack saying that there is “no sign of a phoenix rising from the ashes”, adding that “much of Glasgow’s incredible built heritage is in danger of falling, either to the elements, to neglect, to lack of funding or to simple malicious demolition”.
Amidst calls for additional investment to protect the Mack, he said that the structure is “integral to Scotland’s identity and central to the image of brand Scotland we want to portray, and an asset to the UK on the world stage” and that there are fears that the project is “faltering”.
“I am just calling for positive engagement from the UK Government, for them to roll up their sleeves and find a solution for what everyone wants – the restoration of the Mack. It can be done. I am sure it will be done.
Flames engulfed the art school in a second devastating fire (Image: NQ)
“Evidence for what can be done is not far from us, in the Chamber of the House of Commons. Bombed out in 1941, faithfully restored after the war, it is still working its political alchemy on us all. That is what we want for the Mackintosh building, too—for it to rise from the rubble, to work its artistic magic on students, on Glasgow, on Scotland and the world.”
But the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Stephanie Peacock has dashed hopes of direct intervention, despite donating £10m following the initial fire in 2014 stressing that heritage is a devolved matter.
Instead, officials state that they are ‘open and willing’ to facilitate applications to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, where Glasgow was selected as one of 11 priority places to receive a share of its £200m heritage place initiative – which includes the Sauchiehall Street cultural quarter.
The government would also throw its weight behind applications to the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Architectural Heritage Fund.
She said:”…I hope to see it returned to a working art school at the heart of Glasgow’s creative and cultural community.
“We are open and willing to facilitate conversations with organisations such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the National Heritage Memorial Fund to expedite the restoration of the Mackintosh building….
“As we look to the future, this government will continue to work with the Scottish Government and all the devolved administrations to ensure that the UK’s heritage is protected and accessible to all.”
Professor Alan Dunlop, one of Scotland’s leading architects who once put his hat in the ring to become the next chair of GSA and is a stakeholder consultee for the Mack reinstatement project said that there was a “lack of progress” in Westminster saying the response Government response was a “damp squib” which offered “only meaningless words of support and suggestions that GSA try the lottery for funding”.
(Image: Kirsty Anderson)
While architects Reiach and Hall and Purcell have been appointed to ‘robustly test’ existing rebuild plans for the Mack there remains no design team in place while GSA has been carrying out internal inquiries into changing its insurance arrangements.
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According to a GSA itinerary it was supposed to be in place by August 2022.
It means hope of getting any council planning approval for the project will not be expected until well into 2027 at the earliest, according to estimates based on the GSA’s own schedule.
The continued stalling over the future of the building is expected to add many millions to the estimated cost of more than £100m.
Reiach and Hall with Purcell have been expected to go back to an earlier brief testing and direction-setting stage, working to update the existing 2021 strategic business case.
That business case addendum due to be published early next year, was to “ensure GSA can make evidenced-based decisions, ensuring the Mackintosh Building is successfully rebuilt as a working school of art and contributes to the regeneration of Sauchiehall Street and Glasgow City Centre”.
The architects were to work immediately, alongside cost and economic consultants, to “robustly test GSA’s previous assumptions, costs and economic impact, timelines and approaches to delivery of this significant project”.
GSA board of governors has agreed that the rising building costs and issues with the insurance has meant that the previous business case would have to be revisited and reviewed.
After The Herald revealed issues with insurance payouts, GSA confirmed in May it has “chosen to enter into arbitration proceedings with [our insurers]” admitting that since June 2013, it has been working through the “very complex insurance claim, supported by a team of external legal and insurance professionals”.
Funding arrangements for any reinstatement have still not been confirmed and the business case schedule talked of confirming funding arrangements in April 2022.
An original GSA risk management analysis categorised a delay of more than six months with the project as “catastrophic”.
The standstill has been in part due to a continuing failure, running into some seven years to reach a settlement over its complex insurance claims and potential legal battles.
The Mack is synonymous with both GSA, the city and Scotland, inspiring generations of students, attracting scholars and researchers to use its archive and collections, and hosting over 27,000 annual visitors to the regular exhibitions and student-led tours.
A three-year-old detailed business case examination of the project revealed that while a variety of funding sources may be available to deliver the capital project and support operation of the new building, its affordability was “dependent” on the outcome of the insurance claim.
A ‘lessons learning” analysis carried out in the wake of both fires by GSA which concluded earlier this year said that a review was needed of its future insurance arrangements.
And GSA says in the analysis that it would seek to ensure that insurance should be placed on an “all risks basis”.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a 28-year-old junior draughtsman at a Glasgow architecture firm when he drew up the designs for the building that many consider his masterpiece in the Garnethill area of the city centre and it finally opened in 1909 while heralded as the birth of a new style in 20th Century European architecture.
It became one of Scotland’s most admired and influential buildings and Mackintosh, under-appreciated in his own time, was lauded as one of the country’s finest designers.
In October 2021, the school ruled out constructing a new building to replace the fire-ravaged structure and instead opted for a ‘faithful reinstatement’ of the 1909 architectural masterpiece.