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What is happening to Glasgow School of Art?

Flickr/McAteer Photograph 2023 The Mackintosh Building is wrapped in a protective coverFlickr/McAteer Photograph 2023
Flickr/McAteer Photograph 2024 Restoration work at The Mackintosh Building in April 2024Flickr/McAteer Photograph 2024
The Mackintosh Building remains wrapped in a protective white membrane.
Restoration work at The Mackintosh Building in April 2024.

On 23 May 2014, a fire tore through the library in the world-renowned Mackintosh Building at the Glasgow School of Art.

In June 2018, near the end of a £35m restoration project, an even more devastating fire broke out.

Ten years on, the remains of the building are hidden under a protective white membrane.

So what is happening with the iconic building?

Library designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh at the Glasgow School of Art
The Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed library at the Glasgow School of Art before it was destroyed by fire on 23 May 2014

Glasgow School of Art (GSA) said it was committed to a faithful reinstatement of the building, which was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

It plans to return it as a working part of the art school.

It said work to date, totalling about £18m, had been funded by interim payments from the insurers.

Work was stalled after a dispute with insurers, and GSA said it was in arbitration over its claim for the most recent of two fires.

The Scottish government has said it was giving "careful consideration" to the call for a public inquiry.

Earlier this month, the GSA said it was preparing to put out a tender for architects to proceed with the rebuild, and anticipated appointments would be made in July.

It said an updated strategic outline business case would be published in early 2025, and this work would inform the timeline for the rebuild.

The Mackintosh Building at Glasgow School of Art suffered serious damage after a major fire on 23 May 2014 - no one was hurt but fire crews worked for hours to dampen down the flames

The Mackintosh building in Garnethill was designed in phases between 1896 and 1909, in Art Nouveau style.

Firefighters worked "flat out" to save the building during the blaze of 2014, later announcing they had protected 70% of its contents and more than 90% of its structure was viable.

On 15 June 2018, as restoration neared completion, another blaze engulfed the building.

At the time, the fire and rescue service said the damage was "exceptionally significant".

Before the latest building works stalled, the GSA had said it hoped the building could reopen in 2030.

A second fire engulfed the Mackintosh Building on 15 June 2018 - the Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed building had been nearing the end of £35m restoration work when flames engulfed it once again. This time the building was reduced to a shell
Getty Images The Mackintosh Building in 2012 Getty Images
The full facade of the Mackintosh Building in 2012 - photographed in its entirety for the first time in 50 years during construction work across the road
A second fire at the Mackintosh Building in 2018 destroyed renovation work carried out following the first blaze six years earlier
Charles Rennie Mackintosh did more than design the building - his style was evident in the facade, fixtures and fittings of the Mackintosh Building - evident in the innovative "master and slave" clock system - a technical innovation when it was installed in 1910 - unlike conventional clocks of the time, it did not need winding