THE CCA art centre in Glasgow will not be able to be opened to the public until at least early October.

However, after a meeting between the Glasgow School of Art (GSA), the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) and Glasgow City Council yesterday, it was decided that workmen could enter the beleaguered arts centre to fix a leak which has led to a ceiling collapse in its exhibition space.

A GSA statement last night said the eight week programme for dismantling parts of the gutted Mackintosh Building is now "virtually complete" and its contractors will now work "flat out" to complete the works needed so that the CCA can re-open.

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Bracing scaffolding has completed on the east gable and north-east façade of the building, making the south, east and around half of the north side of the building "completely safe", it said.

However, it is not yet known when staff from the CCA, and its businesses, can enter to begin the process of rehabilitating the building.

Scotland's arts funding body, Creative Scotland, has also backed a three-step proposal by the director of Glasgow's CCA to re-open the beleaguered arts centre.

The Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), a key national arts venue and home to more than a dozen businesses in the city's Sauchiehall Street, has been shut since the disastrous fire at the Glasgow School of Art's Mackintosh Building in June.

The CCA's site includes a fire exit on Scott Street, which city officials have believed is still a dangerous area - the towering and damaged west wing of the gutted Mackintosh Building stands on the same street.

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Francis McKee, its director, has suggested steps to allow a re-opening, including the construction of a new safety canopy over the exit.

Creative Scotland, which owns the building, has said it should re-open "as quickly as possible" and added: "we think the solutions being put forward by the CCA and others, should be supported."

The CCA's fate rests between the two parties: the Glasgow School of Art and its contractors, and the officials of Glasgow City Council, who have their own experts making judgements on safety, and control the cordon around the site.

The CCA have been waiting for the GSA's works to be completed, and for the council's Building Control staff to signal that the south west corner of the Mackintosh Building is safe from danger of collapse.

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Mr McKee said that the first step required is access, potentially accompanied by safety experts, for a plumber and builder to fix a leak that has resulted in a ceiling collapse in the CCA's exhibition space.

The second is a "re-assessment" of its fire exits, including the canopy idea, to allow partial access for both businesses and customers.

The third suggestion is a date for the opening of the café bar.

Last night a GSA statement said that, at the meeting, that it was agreed that access to the building could be arranged to fix the water ingress.

It added: "Managed access for the cultural tenants and other businesses based in the building is still being discussed, but full public access to venue will not, however, be possible before early October."

The GSA’s expert structural engineers have submitted proposals for the bracing of the south-west corner of the building.

This work is anticipated to take around three weeks, subject to weather conditions.

Professor Tom Inns, director of the GSA, said: "The Glasgow School of Art has a close relationship with the CCA.

"We have been working with them to identify solutions to the key issue of their fire exits on Scott Street, and to see what can be done to enable managed access.

"Along with Glasgow City Council we had hoped that access in mid-September might have been possible, but inspections of the building following the final removal of existing scaffolding on the south west corner confirmed that additional work would need to be undertaken here.

"We will work flat out to get this work done as soon as possible and in the meantime will continue to identify how controlled access can be arranged."

A spokesman for Creative Scotland said: "As funders of the CCA and the many organisations that work out of the venue, we understand the significant impact this prolonged situation is having on the people affected and on the cultural landscape of Glasgow more broadly.

"We are also aware of the enormous efforts that everybody has made to maintain the wide ranging cultural programme that the building supports and we realise that this is not sustainable.

"Within the context of public safety, which is paramount, we would like to see this situation resolved as quickly as possible."

He added that the funding body would continue to "work closely" with the CCA and the organisations affected by the situation.

Other arts companies in the building include Scottish Ensemble, Cryptic, Playwrights Studio Scotland, and Paragon.