GLASGOW School of Art (GSA) bosses have said they have no regrets about safety decisions taken on the Mackintosh building – despite fire risks being highlighted over a decade before it burned down for a second time.
The building was engulfed in a second major fire in four years in June this year, shortly before it had been due to reopen after a £49 million rebuild following the first blaze in 2014.
READ MORE: Glasgow School of Art architects say contractors should have safeguarded building
Muriel Gray, chair of the board of governors for the GSA, told MSPs on Holyrood’s Culture Committee that the school takes full responsibility for the fire, however it doubts whether decision-making could have been improved.
MSPs had raised concerns that a number of preventative measures were not effectively implemented.
Committee convener Joan McAlpine referenced a federal report into fire safety at the GSA, published in 2006, which highlighted six areas that were deemed to present either a medium or high risk.
Gray said: “We keep asking ourselves, could we have done this better? Is there something we missed? Is there a lesson that we’ve learned that we can take forward?
“I don’t have any regrets about the process. I have massive regrets that these things happened but no, I can’t in all consciousness say there’s something that I would have done differently.”
Addressing the MSPs, Gray also confirmed plans for the art school to be rebuilt exactly as it was designed 100 years ago.
“That will be unique because over the years, there’s been all kinds of bits and pieces done to the Mackintosh that have rendered it not in its original state,” she added.
As well as the restoration of the building, the art school has proposed extending on to Sauchiehall Street.
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