Questions asked about second blaze at site in four years
THE second fire in four years tore through the world famous Mackintosh building of the Glasgow School of Art late on Friday night.
A crowd gathered in surrounding streets to watch as the blaze devastated the building and the adjacent O2ABC music venue
Around 50 firefighters were still working on Sunday to completely extinguish the fire.
Fire service said the building has been “extensively damaged”.
Questions are being asked how the building caught fire twice in four years.
Scottish Fire and Rescue service said: “Damage is from one end of the building to the other. The roof is damaged and the floors. The building is in a poor state.”
The British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association said: “As the building was still undergoing refurbishment it is understood automatic sprinklers had not yet been fully fitted.”
It said sprinklers could have been fitted during refurbishment on a temporary basis, due to the risk during construction.
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: “Hard questions will be asked as to why and how the Mackintosh building has now suffered two serious fires within four years, in the meantime we can be relived that there appears to have been no serious casualties.”
Spokesman for Keir Construction who were carrying out the work said: “We share the devastation felt by the School and the wider public at this time. We are working closely with the Scottish Fire and Rescue service in their investigations and as such it would be inappropriate to comment further while and investigation is ongoing.”
Roger Billcliffe, the Mackintosh expert and gallerist, expressed anger on Twitter at the fire.
He said answers were needed, but added: “Don’t hold your breath, we’re still waiting for answers about the 2014 fire.
“Actually, the fire service provided them but nobody took up their implicit criticisms of the school and its consultants.
“It’s well known that buildings such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s art school are most at risk during building work - look at Hampton Court and Windsor Castle, both extensively damaged, rebuilt and restored.”