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www.glasgowchamberofcommerce.com TASK FORCE Sauchiehall Street Task Force G
lasgow is still coming to terms with the tragic fire at the Glasgow School of Art that also severely damaged the
O2 ABC music venue next door. The blaze started in the iconic Mackintosh Building around 11.15pm on Friday 15 June. The investigation into the cause is still ongoing and in the immediate aftermath, the site was under the control of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service before Glasgow City Council’s task force took over the recovery programme. Glasgow City Council Leader Susan
Aitken announced the setting up of a task force to help inform a long-term strategy for the Sauchiehall Street area in the aftermath. Many businesses in the main thoroughfare and dozens of local residents in the vicinity have been severely impacted by the blaze. Glasgow Chamber Chief Executive Stuart Patrick said: “We welcome the appointment of a task force, and of course offer it our full support. “Anyone looking at the pictures of
the scene will realise that this latest fire is an absolutely tragic event and a terrible blow to the Glasgow School of Art team after its hard work over the last four years. And we must not forget the serious damage done to the O2 ABC, which is a major contributor to Glasgow’s night-time economy.” Indeed, the O2 ABC, in Sauchiehall
Street, is older than the Mackintosh masterpiece and was a diorama theatre, a circus, a dance hall and a cinema, built in 1875. In recent years it was one of Glasgow’s most dynamic and popular city centre entertainment venues. Stuart said: “It is also devastating for Sauchiehall Street at a time of serious change due to a combination of the recent blaze at the other end of the street and the shifting trends in retail hitting hard at the businesses there. We believe the City Council is right that the time has come for a co-ordinated effort to help the recovery of one of Glasgow city centre’s most important streets.” The Mackintosh Building had been undergoing a period of extensive restoration following the fire in 2014 and has not been a part of the GSA’s operational campus for four years. While the fire in ‘the Mack’ is
devastating news, Glasgow School of Art’s focus has been on its students, and on the continuing operation of the GSA to ensure minimum disruption to students and staff. At the time of publication, Glasgow School of Art, working with its team of structural experts, was still assessing the structural integrity of the Mackintosh Building. The GSA’s new specialist site contractor, Reigart, has brought large mobile cranes on site to allow detailed close-up visual assessment of damage to the building. All of this information
is being shared with the Glasgow City Council Building Control team to establish an effective stabilisation strategy that ensures public safety. The visual assessment showed that damage to the Mackintosh Building is significantly greater than had initially been anticipated from ground visual assessment and the data from the drone and scanning footage. Reigart, together with its structural engineers David Narro Associates, has been using drone information to develop a plan of works to achieve structural stability of the building. This was being agreed with Historic Environment Scotland and Glasgow City Council Building Control. All parties are working in collaboration to allow a partial dismantling and there is an expectation that the famous frontage on Renfrew Street could survive. The areas of significant concern are the east elevation, the west elevation and sections of the south elevation, which backs on to the O2 ABC. The plan will involve Reigart undertaking the removal of stonework and potential structural bracing. Due to the condition of the Mackintosh Building, which is in danger of sudden collapse, work is being undertaken in a controlled and managed way to minimise any potential risk of failure and to be sufficient to achieve structural stability of the building.
It’s hoped that some of the structure of the fire-ravaged Mackintosh Building can be saved
© Michael Kobiela /
Shutterstock.com
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