STARS of the stage and screen spoke of their devastating heartbreak about the blaze which has gutted Glasgow's world-renowned School of Art
Scottish scriptwriter Paul Laverty, writer of the of the award winning movie, I, Daniel Blake, spoke to the Sunday Herald about his shock at the disaster.
Laverty, who is a close collaborator on films with the director Ken Loach, was educated in Glasgow.
He told the Sunday Herald that the fire was "doubly heartbreaking" after the "immense effort" to get the school ready again after the last blaze in 2014.
Laverty has worked with Loach on acclaimed films such as Sweet Sixteen, Bread and Roses, My Name is Joe, The Angels' Share and Jimmy's Hall.
In an emotional response, Laverty said: "It's doubly heartbreaking after all the immense effort made by people to get it up and running again."
However, the writer of the of the Palme d'Or-winning film I, Daniel Blake, said he was convinced Glaswegians would successfully fight to restore the site yet again.
He said: "The community of Glasgow is as tough as nails so people will rise to the occasion again.
"Glasgow is such a resilient city and there will as always be tremendous goodwill towards the School of Art."
Meanwhile, Scottish singer-songwriter Midge Ure talked about his distress on hearing the news about the disaster.
The Lanarkshire-born former frontman of iconic 1980s band Ultravox said he was "devastated to hear about the beautiful Glasgow School of Art going through what looks like a much worse fire than last time".
The musician, who co-wrote and produced the charity Band Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in 1984, made the remarks on Twitter.
Travis singer Fran Healy, who was raised in Glasgow, said he "could not believe the building was on fire again" on the social media site.
Comedian and Strictly Come Dancing contestant Susan Calman also issued a public statement expressing her sympathy and praising Scotland's emergency services.
The Glasgow-born star said: "Thinking of staff, students, alumni and the wonderful emergency services who, as always, fought to save such a treasure. Just awful."
Anne Kenney, a writer and producer of the hit TV show Outlander, also issued a statement.
Kenney said: "So very sorry to hear about the fire at Glasgow School of Art! What a tragedy.
"Still rebuilding from 2014 fire."
Meanwhile, artist and TV presenter Lachlan Goudie said he was "horrified" by the ravaging of the building describing it as "a terrible bereavement".
"This building was part of Glasgow's soul, a visual expression of Scottish creativity at its peak," he added.
"To see it devastated once was horrendous, to see it assaulted by the flames a second time is gut wrenching."
Stuart Robertson, director of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society said: "Have just heard the sad news that a large fire has broken out in the Mackintosh Building at the Glasgow School of Art.
"It is unbelievable that the building can suffer a repeat of the devastating fire that ravaged the building in 2014.
"My heart goes out to everybody."
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