GSA OPEN |
Events throughout the year to help you get the right information and support at the right time
The Glasgow School of Art has been devastated by a huge fire, only four years after parts of the building were destroyed by a smaller blaze.
Flames spread through Glasgow School of Art in Scotland – in pictures Read more
More than 120 firefighters and 20 appliances were called to tackle the blaze, which began at about 11.15pm on Friday and spread to a neighbouring music venue, the O2 ABC.
The grade-A listed building appears to have been gutted by the fire and had its roof and upper floors destroyed. Firefighters were unable to enter the building because of fears its walls might collapse.
Residents said the heat was so intense it could be felt several streets away, with chunks of blazing timber and debris raining down on neighbouring streets. Police evacuated 27 people from nearby properties as a precaution, but there were no reported casualties.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest An aerial view of the damage caused to the Mackintosh Building in Glasgow. Photograph: Police Scotland Air/PA
Iain Bushell, a deputy chief officer with the Scottish fire and rescue service (SFRS), said the fire was now largely extinguished and under control. “There are a few hotspots and we can still see flames. It’s difficult to reach because it is such a large building and we are only firefighting from the outside because of the risk of collapse of structural elements,” he said.
“It’s a tragedy that such an important building to the people of Glasgow has been damaged again.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Rocco Giudice @81Rocco
Speaking at the scene, he said the school was widely damaged. “The roof is gone completely. We cannot get in yet to assess the damage. I can only see from the street but it looks as if the building has been extensively damaged.”
The building’s exterior stonework appeared heavily affected by the fire.
From behind the police cordon on Dalhousie Street, it was possible to see that part of the stone frontage of the building had been damaged, raising questions about whether the structure will survive this second round of intense heat.
In the last fire, the stonework endured temperatures of up to 1,000C and was then cooled down very quickly by water, leaving some of the stone cracked and and too weak to reuse.
Bushell said the alarm was raised by a passing police officer. At the height of the blaze, firefighters were pumping water from the river Clyde, guided by a police helicopter flying overhead.
Officials from the famous art school were expected to meet on Saturday morning to discuss the latest information from the fire service and the management of alternative arrangements for students.
The building was designed by the art nouveau architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, whose designs extended to the smallest detail, including its furniture, lamps and glass inlays.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh: architect of choice for Doctor Who and Madonna Read more
Its most famous feature was its library, which housed many rare and archival materials as well as original furniture and fittings, and was gutted by the first fire.
The first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said it was a very sad morning: “It appears there are no casualties and I hope that continues to be the case ... This is clearly an extremely complex and large-scale incident, and one that is ongoing. I would like to thank the emergency services for their continued efforts.”
She said the Scottish government would provide any support required, while the secretary for Scotland, David Mundell, said the UK government was ready to help the school “financially or otherwise”.
The city celebrated the 150th anniversary of Mackintosh’s birth last week, when one of his other famous buildings, the Willow Tea Rooms nearby, reopened after a refurbishment.
Students at the school had their graduation ceremony on Friday, said Jane Sutherland, the chair of the local community council and an artist who graduated from the school in 1982.
Glasgow School Art (@GSofA) Huge congratulations to all of our graduates today! Group photographs for all schools are available on our Flickr site now: https://t.co/sn6jV19VO4 pic.twitter.com/ol2cEkpjff
She said she witnessed the fire from her flat and saw the start of the blaze in 2014. “This time around I feel numb, like ice, legs like jelly,” Sutherland said. “The fire was immense. People were dodging fist-sized flaming embers last night. All the neighbours were out; we were all worried all the roofs were going up. This area is full of architectural gems.
“It was terrifying last night. The smell of it and you could feel the heat of it two blocks away.”
She said the firefighters had been heroic. “They fought with their lives for that building; they did the last time and they have again.”
Margaret Archbold, who studied sculpture at the art school in the early nineties, said that she was relieved to see some stone left from her vantage point at the police cordon in Hill Street.
“It should have been the safest building in Glasgow,” she said. “It’s so ironic that all that money was put back in to restoring the building and celebrating the Mackintosh anniversary. It’s devastating to see when you know what’s in that building.”
Another witness, Aidan Dick, said the fire and smoke grew in intensity “in the space of a few minutes”. He tweeted: “Glasgow School of Art is on fire again. Heartbreaking. My thoughts go to all students and staff, and I hope no one was caught in the blaze.”
Bushell said: “The fire was well alight in minutes and after that it went very quickly, so the school of art is extensively damaged. It did spread to the ABC theatre on the other side of the street, so the roof is extensively damaged from that.”
The 2014 fire began when flammable gases from a foam canister used in a student project were ignited accidentally. A report by the SFRS concluded that old ventilation ducts helped it spread into neighbouring studios and upwards through the building.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Glasgow School of Art. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian
The report also noted that a sprinkler system, designed to enhance existing fire protection measures, was in the latter stages of installation at the time of the fire, but was not yet operational. It is not known whether any similar system had been installed yet in the latest restoration.
Restoration work had been in constant progress since the summer of 2014, beginning with debris removal, then the salvage process conducted by specialist forensic architects, and the drying out of the building to guard against future difficulties with rot.
The restoration had been scheduled to conclude by the end of 2018, with undergraduate students returning to the building in 2019.
LONDON — A large fire has ripped through the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland, officials said Saturday morning, causing extensive damage to a building considered the jewel in the city’s architectural crown.
It was the second time in four years that a blaze has hit the world-famous and beloved building, which was under restoration after a fire badly damaged it in May 2014.
The building, widely rated as the masterpiece of the Glasgow-born architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and completed in 1909, was hit by the latest fire overnight Friday.
Peter Heath of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service told reporters that the call had come in at 11:19 p.m., sending more than 120 firefighters and 20 fire engines to the site.
A huge fire has caused "extensive" damage at Glasgow's famed Mackintosh Building and hit multimillion-pound restoration work carried out in the aftermath of a previous blaze in 2014.
Scores of firefighters tackled a "significant" blaze that consumed the Glasgow School of Art building overnight and spread to nearby buildings, including one of the city's leading nightclubs.
Flames and smoke billowed from the roof of the renowned art school throughout the night and into Saturday morning, the second time in four years that a serious blaze has hit the building.
The “extensive” fire has affected all floors of the historic building, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Deputy Assistant Peter Heath said.
Mr Heath confirmed early indications were that “up to 50 per cent of the building was involved directly in the fire”.
