Blaze-hit art school launches fire checks

GLASGOW School of Art has announced it is launching a series of fire safety inspections at all its buildings.

The survey will cover 15 properties – many in the shadow of the burnt-out Mackintosh building in Glasgow.

It comes days after the GSA board was accused of a ‘cavalier’ approach to safety in a damning report to MSPs.

Fire ripped through the school in June, destroying millions of pounds worth of renovation work that had been carried out after the building – designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh – was gutted by a blaze in 2014.

Now the GSA has advertised for tenders from independent experts to investigate its leased and owned properties.

Small businesses are due to return to their premises in Glasgow’s Garnethill next month for the first time since they were evacuated in June.

Yesterday, the board said: ‘The fire risk assessment will help identify risks that can be removed or reduced and to decide the nature and extent of the general fire precautions that need to be taken.’

A GSA spokesman said ‘there’s nothing more important than the safety of our students, staff and neighbours’, adding: ‘There was an extremely rigorous analysis after the fire in 2014 and it’s important we do this again. As part of this we’re commissioning external fire risk assessments.’