WITNESSES to the devastating fire at the Glasgow School of Art have been telling of their disbelief at the iconic building being ravaged by flames for the second time in four years.
Smoke poured into the night sky as the flames took hold of the building which has been undergoing a multi-million pound restoration project.
Crews were called to the scene at around 11:20pm with the fire spreading “in the space of a few minutes”.
No casualties have been reported following the fire, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said.
Local resident John McInnes, 22, said: “I can’t believe that this has happened again to such an iconic building. It’s unbelievable.
“Questions need to be asked, they spent so much on renovation, but this seems so much worse than the last one.”
Former Glasgow School of Art student Peter Swanton, who also witnessed the 2014 fire, described his devastation at seeing the building in flames again.
“The Glasgow School of Art was a home away from home for 4 years and still such an important part of my life. To see this from my roof hurts,” the designer wrote on Twitter.
Another witness Connor Neil said people were being evacuated from their homes and there was a “big orange light” which could be seen from across the city centre.
The 22-year-old chef from Glasgow said: “We’ve got just to the top of Renfrew Street and police closed off the road.
“You can just see a big orange light coming from the school and people are being evacuated from their homes.”
Fire took hold of the Glasgow School of Art building in May 2014 in the run-up to the students’ degree show, and graduation ceremonies had taken place at the institution earlier on Friday.
A restoration project, which was set to cost between £20 million and £35 million, had been returning the famous art school to its former glory, with Brad Pitt and Peter Capaldi among those lending their support.
Witness Aidan Dick said the fire and smoke grew in intensity “in the space of a few minutes” in the latest blaze.
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.”
The fire at the building, which was designed by artist and architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and built between 1897 and 1909, has been called “devastating” by the city council leader Susan Aitken.
Paul Sweeney, shadow Scotland minister, said the Mackintosh Building was the “most architecturally important building” in the city.
He added: “Oh dear, the 1909 library extension, that was the origin of the 2014 blaze is now fully alight too. It looks like the entire interior space is now fully alight.
“The best we can probably hope for is structural facade retention and a complete rebuild of the interior. Devastating.
“There must be a comprehensive national effort to ensure every possible option to salvage and restore what is one of the finest edifices in the history of world architecture is pursued in the wake of this latest setback.
Now the o2 abc is on fire next to Glasgow School of art pic.twitter.com/qp3VQv0sIu
— blair (@bl4irrr) June 16, 2018
“I’ll be doing everything I can to promote that in Parliament.”
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was heartbroken by the fire and paid tribute to the emergency services.
She tweeted: “This is clearly an extremely serious situation. My first thoughts tonight are for the safety of people – but my heart also breaks for Glasgow’s beloved @GSofA.
The Glasgow School of Art was a home away from home for 4 years and still such an important part of my life. To see this from my roof hurts. pic.twitter.com/hMmNjnEc35
— Peter (@sw4nton) June 16, 2018
“Once again, we are indebted to the bravery of our firefighters and other emergency services.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel