Restoration work was almost complete

GLASGOW School of Art had gone to extreme lengths to restore the Mackintosh building after the 2014 fire.

The school described itself as “custodians of an iconic piece of world architectural heritage” with a responsibility to restore it for students and staff.

The blaze caused significant damage to the west wing, including the loss of the celebrated Mackintosh Library, and the first stage of the restoration was to fit a temporary roof over the site.

A full-scale model of part of the library was later built to test if the original materials and techniques from Mackintosh’s 19th century design could be used in its reconstruction.

The specifications for the model bay were developed with “meticulous research” into every aspect of the original design and construction of the library held in the GSA archives and the original drawings in the Hunterian Museum.

To rebuild the wooden library, the restoration team sourced wood from the US which was the same age as that used in Mackintosh’s 19th century design.

The first phase saw outer work with damaged stonework repaired and the roof replaced before the process of restoring the west wing and upgrading the east wing interiors began last year.

Work was due to be complete in February 2019.