The GSA thanks members of the Scottish Parliament and Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee for their contributions today.
GSA actively took part in the CTEEA Committee sessions and gave full information and documentation to help its work, and we welcomed many of the report’s findings. We also gave a detailed response to each of the Committee’s recommendations, and have been clear that any decision on a Public Inquiry rests with the Scottish Government. Our response and supplementary information can be found at http://www.gsa.ac.uk/about-gsa/key-information/mackintosh-building-fire-15-june-2018/gsa-formal-response-to-the-scottish-parliament-cteeac/including the GSA Report on Compartmentation, Historic Scotland grant approval letter, the Mackintosh Building Asbestos Management Survey, and details of the non-funding of the pre 2014 Mist Suppression System
We did raise a number of areas of concern in the CTEEA report, particularly about the role of Kier Construction (Scotland) Ltd, who were in full control of the Mackintosh Building at the time of the 2018 fire, and we thank Members for their recognition today of Kier’s role. The limited engagement and contribution by Keir Construction (Scotland) Ltd to the work of the Committee was acknowledged in the debate and it is important that this is addressed to make sure that the Committee’s consideration is complete and accurate.
Also in the debate mention was made of the Sunday Post, which over the last few months has been running articles on The Glasgow School of Art. In each case the GSA has provided the Sunday Post with detailed factual information which they have, on the whole, chosen not to include within their reporting.
We thank the Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science for his words of support for the teaching, learning and research at The Glasgow School of Art, his recognition of the importance to Scotland of GSA’s global reputation and that of its staff, students and graduates, and the work now being done by the GSA to strengthen its relationship with the local community.
As announced last week we are now in the process of appointing a permanent Director and yesterday announced five highly experienced new Lay Governors who will support The Glasgow School of Art as we move forward in the next stage of our development, including, in due course, the rebuild of the Mackintosh Building as a resource for our staff and students, the wider community, for Glasgow and for Scotland.
Ends