Public probe call into fires at art school
BY LUCINDA CAMERON TWO fires that ripped through Glasgow School of Art should be the subjects of a public inquiry, MSPs said yesterday.
The school was badly damaged last June while undergoing a £35million restoration programme after the previous blaze in May 2014.
Holyrood’s Culture Committee published its report yesterday after taking evidence on the circumstances of the blazes.
The report found that in the run-up to the 2014 blaze, the school appeared not to have addressed the heightened risk of fire to the Mackintosh building.
The committee also said it was not convinced the approach to risk management was adequate.
And concern was raised about how long it took for a mist suppression system to be fitted.
MSP Joan McAlpine, the committee convener, said the school’s board “had a duty to protect Mackintosh’s legacy”. She added: “Glasgow School of Art itself must learn lessons from its role in presiding over the building, given that two devastating fires occurred within their estate in such a short space of time.”
The committee want the Scottish Government to set up a public inquiry with judicial powers.
Dr Muriel Gray, chair of GSA’s board of governors, criticised the findings, saying: “There are always lessons that can be learned.
“The report, however, includes a worrying number of factual inaccuracies in areas that we have already fully addressed in the parliamentary process.”