NEWS RELEASE: The GSA unveils major campus development plans

April 21, 2016


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  • Restored Mackintosh Building returns
    as heart of expanded Garnethill campus.
  • The GSA to extend campus to include
    the former Stow College site.
  • Stow Building to be refurbished imaginatively,
    and bring together all pathways in the School of Fine Art in one building for
    the first time in over 50 years.
  • The Mackintosh Building to return to
    its original academic configuration.


The Glasgow School Art announced major plans
for its campus on Garnethill today, 21 April 2016. The restored Mackintosh Building
will be at the heart of an extended campus, with the building returning to its
original academic configuration and as a home for all first year students. The plans
will also see the GSA purchase the former Stow College site with a first phase bringing
together all pathways of the School of Fine Art in a refurbished Stow Building.




The news was announced as the GSA launched the
Mackintosh Campus Appeal, a £32m fundraising campaign (£17m already secured) which
will enable the institution to recover from the impact of the fire and meet its
academic ambitions through a sensitive and authentic restoration of the west
wing and upgrading of the east wing of the Mackintosh Building, the purchase of
the Stow College site, and the development of studio and workshop space in the
Stow Building.

Over
the last 10 years the GSA has undertaken phased developments of the campus in
Garnethill, refurbishing some buildings, replacing others that were no longer
fit for purpose and constructing the Reid Building”
says GSA Director,
Professor Tom Inns. “The Mackintosh
Building fire required the School to pause and reconsider, but we are now
moving forward to create a newly extended campus with the restored Mackintosh
Building at its heart.”

“The
acquisition of the former Stow College site is a fundamental element of our new
estate development strategy. It will mean that the GSA can bring together all pathways
in the School of Fine Art in one specially-adapted building for first time in
over 50 years. It will also mean we can create the space to support
collaboration across our disciplines as well as with other academic, third sector
and industry partners.”

“This
next phase of our campus development will help us achieve our academic
aspiration to become a global leader in studio-based learning and research,
provide the space to accommodate a 25% increase in our student numbers by 2018,
and importantly provide the GSA with space for future growth.”

The GSA is expected to complete the
purchase of the former Stow College site in the next few weeks and has
appointed
Gardiner and Theobald to provide all consultancy services for the
conversion.
BDP have been appointed as architects for the first
phase refurbishment works. Work will begin in summer 2016 with the School of
Fine Art moving into the building from autumn 2017.

Page Park were appointed as design team
lead for the Mackintosh Building in March 2015. They are working with the GSA
to develop the plan for the restoration of the west wing and the upgrade of the
east wing of the building. The Main Contractor will be appointed in June 2016
and work will begin on site immediately after that. The GSA expects to have
access to the building in the 2018-19 Academic year. 

Ends

For
further information contact:
Lesley
Booth  0779941 4474 / press@gsa.ac.uk



Notes
for Editors
·        
The first phase of the GSA Garnethill campus
development was the Reid Building, a purpose designed building for the School
of Design, which replaced the Foulis Building and Newbery Tower, and was completed
in 2014.
·        
The total cost to the GSA of recovery from
the fire, restoration (west wing) and upgrade (east wing) of the Mackintosh
Building, and the campus development plans is in the region of £80m.
·        
The total cost of restoring and upgrading
the Mackintosh Building will be around £51m split roughly two thirds
restoration of the west wing and one third upgrading the east wing.
·        
The GSA will meet this cost from its own
resources (including insurance settlement), disposal of buildings no longer fit
for purpose (JD Kelly and Richmond Buildings) and fundraising. £17m has been
raised to date (comprising £15m from the UK and Scottish governments and £2m
from philanthropic giving).


·        
Honorary Patron and Trustees of the
Mackintosh Campus Appeal are:

Honorary Patron: The
Rt Hon The Lord Macfarlane of Bearsden KT
Trustees: Peter
Capaldi, Kelly Cooper-Barr, Dr Kenneth Chrystie, Bob Downes
Ken
Ross OBE (Chair), Bryan Ferry CBE, Dr Muriel Gray, Prof Tom Inns
Douglas
Kinnaird,
MT Rainey, Brad Pitt



The
Glasgow School of Art

The Glasgow School of Art
(GSA) was founded in 1845 as one of the first Government Schools of Design, as
a centre of creativity promoting good design for the manufacturing industries
of Glasgow.  However, the School’s
lineage can be traced to 1753 when Robert Foulis established a school of art
and design in Glasgow, which was described as the single most influential
factor in the development of eighteenth-century Scottish Art

Today, the GSA is
internationally recognised as one of Europe’s leading university-level
institutions for the visual creative disciplines. Our studio-based approach to
research and teaching brings disciplines together to explore problems in new
ways to find new innovative solutions. The studio creates the environment for
inter-disciplinarity, peer learning, critical inquiry, experimentation and
prototyping, helping to addressing many of the grand challenges confronting
society and contemporary business.




Stow
College
Opened by the then Glasgow Corporation on
26 September 1934 Stow College takes its name from David Stow (1793-1864), a
Victorian philanthropist and one of the greatest pioneers in the history of
Scottish education.

In the early years, Stow was known as the
Trades School, and provided evening courses for workers from the heavy
engineering and shipbuilding companies located on the banks of the
Clyde. Following a brief interlude in World
War Two when the College operated as a Rolls
Royce production centre manufacturing aero
engines for the war effort, the College was left with specialist labs that
enabled the development of more advanced courses.

The College quickly established a
reputation for providing high quality training and with the expansion of Further
Education in the late 1950s and 1960s, Stow College became the centre of FE in
Glasgow, acting as the cradle for the development of other Colleges in the
city.

In November 2013, the College merged with
John Wheatley College and North Glasgow College to form the new Glasgow Kelvin
College.

For almost 80 years, then, Stow College
played a key role in learning in Glasgow and this continues through Glasgow
Kelvin College, whose strong links with its surrounding communities continue to
grow and flourish.