IT is a month today since the flames took hold of Glasgow School of Art’s beautiful Mack building for the second time, ravaging it and leaving its blackened shell sitting unsteadily at the top of the hill in Renfrew Street.
And it is a month, too, since photographer Christopher Bowen, evacuated from his nearby flat, sat blearily drinking tea in the early hours of Sunday morning along with other residents – young, old, couples, flatmates and families – at the Mitchell Library in Charing Cross.
Back then, he refused an offer of a hotel room at 5am, choosing to stay with friends in the morning and believing he would be back in soon.
It soon emerged not only was that not the case.
He, like other homeowners in the area, found that his insurers would not pay out because his property had not been damaged.
Bowen has even been unable to access the flat to check.
“The thing for me is that I don’t only live there but work there,” he explains. Bowen is the photographer responsible for studio athletics shots for the European Championships 2018, held in Glasgow.
His sporting images are currently seen around the city, as are his photographs for the National Theatre of Scotland posters. But there will be no more any time soon as his cameras and studio equipment are all on lockdown.
“So currently I can’t work,” he says. “Thankfully there’s the £3,000 per household [an agreed emergency payment by the council] which has been helpful in buying the clothes and things that I need to replace. But it’s not compensation.”
The issue of insurance has been a particularly trying one, with most companies refusing to pay out.
Council leader Susan Aitken has raised the issue with David Mundell, the Secretary of State for Scotland, and SNP MP for Glasgow Central Alison Thewliss raised the issue with Theresa May in Parliament. But so far there’s no progress.
Libbie Usher, 20, Sauchiehall Street resident and a nightclub PR manager, has returned to Dundee to stay with her parents because it all got too much. She’s had a brutal month – a week of staying on friends’ sofas, a weekend in a hotel, another week of calling the council’s homeless services every day to find out where she’d spend the night, then finally an offer of a flat so far out she could not afford to get a taxi home from town (she finishes at 3am).
“In the end I spoke to my work and they were great and have given me a couple of months off,” she says. “Of course, I don’t get paid but at least I have work to go back to. There was help there I suppose but I had to fight so hard to get it and I just got too exhausted.”
She did not have insurance, but says that she has watched those who made monthly payments left high and dry.
Adrian Nairn, resident and historic harp-maker, who also lives in Garnethill just opposite the site of the fire, can’t access work materials either. But he considers himself relatively lucky.
A tenant of Charing Cross Housing Association, he was immediately rehoused by its sympathetic and efficient team.
“But a lot of [other] people have been having a terrible time,” he says. One family with a disabled son have been forced to move multiple times, struggling to find accommodation to meet his special needs.
“The emergency response that the council provided was woeful,” he adds. “It’s taken four weeks for it to appoint someone to take charge of our situation ... We just want someone we can speak to about our problems who can get them fixed. That’s not happened.”
Ian Christie, loss adjuster at Christie & Co, has now been appointed by residents to address issues they were experiencing with insurance. “Insurance policies haven’t been triggered because of a lack of damage,” he explains “What is unusual in this case is that people are out of their houses for such as long time. If this was a normal building that was endangering others around it then it would come down very quickly.
“The emphasis on the historic building makes this a lengthy process which is the problem that the residents have.
“The poor souls can’t get into their homes but they can’t claim insurance. The council is treating them as homeless but many of them still own homes that they can’t access because of the cordon.”
He is now hoping to argue that damage caused by doors being kicked down during the evacuation process will help “trigger” claims. Meanwhile, residents and businesses are clear. They need leadership and, right now, they feel it is lacking.
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