Safety has been our top priority in fire’s aftermath
Until someone changes the law, we are compelled to protect the city’s public
THE Glasgow School of Art fire has, without doubt, been one of the most challenging incidents faced by the city in recent years.
It has been traumatic for residents and business owners, forced to abandon their homes and livelihoods at a moment’s notice due to the threat to their properties by a seriously unstable building.
The vitality of the wider Sauchiehall Street area, one of Scotland’s most famous thoroughfares and whose renaissance we have long been committed to, has suffered a major setback.
I understand the anger, the grief, the frustration. For many of those affected, the fire is as a close to a bereavement as is likely.
In the aftermath, and as people now return to their homes and businesses, it is with considerable relief that we can say that this tragedy passed off without the loss of life.
The city council’s over-riding concern in the past 10 weeks has been just that; protection of life, the safety of the wider public. Amongst the very real human emotion of recent months, the council has nonetheless had to focus on our clear statutory role, as the statutory body charged with assessing the risk on the site, is life and limb.
The demolition of the Mackintosh Building to render it safe enough has been a hugely complex task. Its position on such a high hill, with the threat of tumbling debris, made this doubly so. Our timetable has been set by building safety experts. There would have been a monumental risk if we had over-ruled this.
It was the need for public safety, the lives of residents, business owners, and workers which has been our priority, not heritage, culture or preservation. These matters were the afterthoughts, not the ordinary residents or local businesses.
As the city council attempted to deal with the human and economic fall-out from the fire, it was dispiriting that some politicians and others sought to make short-term gain by either deliberately misunderstanding or misrepresenting our role and motivation.
Until someone changes the law, we are compelled to protect life and limb.
As people return to their homes and businesses, I can only hope a sense of normality comes quickly.
There will be issues along the way, and the city council stands by, ready to assist, be that with the pursuit of insurance claims, environmental health issues or the continuation of business support measures.
The Glasgow School of Art too has said it stands by ready to help as much as it can now the security cordon has been reduced.
In the meantime, the city council will, of course, assess its processes and procedures in the aftermath of this terrible incident, whilst the Sauchiehall Street Taskforce will step up its efforts to return the area to its rightful place as part of the life’s blood of our city.