STATEMENT: on The Sunday Post articles of 18 and 25 August

Sunday Post – 25 August 2019

• £5m donated by the UK government
• £5m committed by the Scottish Government
• £5m from the UK Government, for a Graduate and Research Centre . When the former Stow College building became available permission was requested to use this grant to acquire it with Stow replacing the JD Kelly, Richmond and Tontine Buildings.  

• In December we were clear we had received the £5m from the UK Government for Stow  (July 2016) and £5m funding from the Scottish Government (February 2018).  The £5m from the UK Government in respect of the Mackintosh Building was to be drawn down as required via the Scottish Funding Council, probably during the period June 2018 – May 2019 as the restoration work was completed. Since the 2018 fire we have not done this and the funds remain with the Scottish Government.    

• The journalist has also suggested that politicians were not satisfied with the answers given by the GSA to the Culture Committee and that they felt that the restoration of the Mackintosh Building was not the School’s priority.   The GSA engaged fully with the Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committeeand provided detailed submissions and supporting information. This clearly demonstrated our approach and commitment to the Mackintosh Building restoration.  

• This latest story follows on from one last week on the funding of the Mackintosh Building restoration and the Mackintosh Campus Appeal where comprehensive factual information was provided to the Sunday Post, but disregarded.  Had it been printed it would have reassured people that generous donations were used for work on the east wing of the Mackintosh Building helping to restore the whole building to its original glory.

To clarify, the factual information provided 

last week to the Sunday Post was:  

• The Mackintosh Building was fully insured.  The insurance settlement covered reinstatement of the damaged west wing of the Building, business interruption, loss of contents 

• An appeal was set up in the immediate aftermath of the 2014 fire to “enable The Glasgow School of Art to recover from the consequences of the fire”.  

• In consultation with Historic Environment Scotland the GSA decided to refurbish of the entire building returning it to the 1910 configuration as well as installing necessary 21st century technology. Work in the East Wing was funded by the GSA and generous external support.

• In 2016 The Mackintosh Campus Appeal was launched to support the holistic approach to the Mackintosh Building restoration and the recovery from the consequences of the fire which had become clearer

• We were asked specifically about the Ash to Art project which was a generous initiative led by J Walter Thomson to support the Mackintosh Campus Appeal.  The Sunday Post was provided with the page from Christie’s catalogue which clearly sets out the aim of the auction, “to enable The Glasgow School of Art to restore and upgrade The Mackintosh Building as a home for all first year students whilst also creating state-of-the-art studio space for the School of Fine Art and workshop for the GSA in the converted Stow Building.”