images: mcateer photograph May 2024. (Loggia, left, stairwell, right)
More images available to download on Flickr
The Glasgow School of Art provided an update today (10th May 2024) on the Mackintosh Building reinstatement project.
The Glasgow School of Art is to issue a tender for the appointment of architects, cost consultants and economic impact experts to update its Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) for the faithful reinstatement of the iconic Mackintosh Building. The GSA is committed to an exemplary faithful reinstatement of the Mackintosh Building.
This SOBC Addendum will identify the appropriate route to delivery of the Mackintosh Building rebuilding. It will take account of the current financial climate, known construction inflation and likely contingency provision looking forward. It will also update the economic case for the rebuilding project, as well as reflecting Glasgow City Council’s recently-published new vision and Plan for Glasgow city centre, and the role of culture and heritage in the regeneration of Sauchiehall Street and the immediate surrounding area.
The GSA anticipates the appointments will be made by July 2024, with the SOBC Addendum published in early 2025. This work will inform the timeline for the faithful reinstatement of the Mackintosh Building.
Faithful reinstatement of the Mackintosh Building remains GSA’s preferred option, which the SOBC Addendum Process will not reconsider. The GSA remains committed to faithful reinstatement, this addendum process will review our journey towards delivering that.
In addition, the GSA confirms today that it has chosen to enter into arbitration proceedings with its insurers. Since June 2018, the GSA has been working through the very complex insurance claim, supported by a team of external legal and insurance professionals. Following publication of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Fire Investigation Report in January 2022, insurers requested further information which the GSA provided to enable them to confirm policy cover. In the absence of this confirmation, The Glasgow School of Art has chosen to initiate arbitration. The arbitration process is subject to a confidentiality provision which means that we are not able to disclose any further details.
Work to date, totalling c.£18m, has been funded by interim payments from the insurers.
Commenting on this next stage, Professor Penny Macbeth, Director of the GSA said:
“We are committed to the faithful reinstatement of the Mackintosh Building, and for that to be done in an exemplary way, returning it as a working art school building at the heart of Glasgow’s creative and cultural eco-system.
“While the protective wrap installed in June 2023 does its job of allowing the building to dry out over the next couple of years, it is important that we move forward with parallel work strands in what is a complex building project.
“What we are now doing, through the SOBC Addendum process, robustly testing our previous assumptions, economic impact, timelines and approaches to delivery, whilst initiating arbitration with our insurers, will ensure we can make strategic, evidenced-based decisions, ensuring the Mackintosh Building is successfully rebuilt and contributes to the regeneration of Sauchiehall Street and this part of Glasgow City Centre.”
ENDS
Mackintosh Building Project progress to date
- Following the June 2018 fire, the Mackintosh Building site was under the control of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service while they undertook a fire investigation report (published in January 2022). The Mackintosh Building was handed back to The Glasgow School of Art in late summer 2021;
- During the period the site was under the control of Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, which included the COVID period where all construction work was significantly curtailed, the School progressed with clearance and stabilisation works to the building structure in parallel to the SFRS investigation works. An update of this work was published in June 2020;
- To maintain progress with the project, alongside the SFRS investigation and debris clearance and stabilisation works, GSA commissioned the Strategic Outline Business Case in January 2020 which was published in October 2021. This concluded that the best option for the Mackintosh Building was faithful reinstatement;
- Following publication of the SFRS Fire Investigation Report in January 2022, the GSA undertook further advance works to the Mackintosh Building with Phase 1, physical preparation works and removal of fire damaged material, completed in January 2023;
- Phase 2A, enabling works completed in June 2023. This included the installation of the temporary roof and building wrap. This has enabled the drying out of the building to commence, alongside continued reduction in scaffold and further strategic removal of unstable parts of the structure. This includes removal of the library piers (replaced post 2014 fire) and internal brick work repairs – primarily main corridor and lintels using salvaged imperial bricks. All of this work is strategic, sequential and represents advance works in line with our October 2021 commitment to faithful reinstatement of the building;
- The reduction in the external scaffold has allowed us to commence the re-glazing of the Reid Building which was damaged in 2018. The current phase of this work is now complete.
- Throughout this period the School has continued to engage with key stakeholders including the Steering Group Mackintosh, a group of external stakeholders with diverse range of skills, knowledge and experience, the Scottish and UK Government, Glasgow City Council and our local communities, alongside progressing further phases of what is a very complex and challenging project;
- We recognise the importance of the Mackintosh Building and the ABC/Jumpin Jaks as a ‘whole city block’ and the positive impact both projects will have on the wider regeneration of Sauchiehall Street and Garnethill;
- The strategic importance of the ABC/Jumpin Jaks site was considered as part of our Estates Strategy approved by our Board in Summer 2022. This concluded the GSA should work constructively and positively with the owners of the site;
- We have actively participated in Glasgow City Council’s Golden Z project which identified the ABC/Jumpin Jaks site as a strategic development site https://urban.360architecture.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/A-Vision-and-Plan-for-the-Golden-Z-without-appendices-230816.pdf;
- Vita Student Living are currently holding public consultations to develop the site https://vitagroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/sauchiehall-street-consultation.pdf and https://vitagroup.com/consultations/sauchiehallstreet
- We are proactively engaged in the consultation process and believe that the development of the site, taking cognisance of the context and heritage status of the Mackintosh Building, will have positive economic, social and cultural benefits to Sauchiehall Street and this part of the city centre;
- We are also engaged and supportive of Glasgow Life/Glasgow City Council Sauchiehall Street Heritage and Cultural Places project which is a 10-year regeneration project for this part of Glasgow City Centre.