MORE than 700 staff and pupils from Glasgow School of Art will move into a city centre business park as their current premises are demolished this summer.

In a notable change of location from the decrepit Newbery Tower and Foulis Building, opposite the world famous Mackintosh Building, staff and students of the school’s design department will move to the glassy modern Skypark this summer.

Moorfield Group, which owns the Skypark, confirmed yesterday that the GSA has signed a three-year lease for 72,500 sq ft of space.

GSA staff will be on site from June, with students arriving in September. Demolition of their current buildings will begin in July.

The Newbery Tower was built in 1972 and the Foulis Building is from 1968, and they are seen as shabby or not suited to purpose.

Departments that will be based at the Skypark, in Finnieston, include Fashion and Textile Design, Product Design, Product Design Engineering, Visual Communications and Silvermith and Jewellery.

Also based in the Skypark are O2, Ticketmaster and Lloyd’s Register.

In the last week, the new £50 million building for the GSA, designed by Steven Holl, was granted planning permission by Glasgow City Council. The building, controversial to some, will sit opposite Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s famed building in Garnethill.

Ian Jones, project manager at GSA, said “Over the past year the school considered a number of options across the city which could meet our requirements not only in terms of the size and space needed, but also in terms of our determination to maintain the quality of the student experience and the best possible working environment.”

Mark Holmes, of Moorfield, said “We are delighted to have been able to meet GSA’s urgent requirement for a range of accommodation.”