Glasgow School of Art rebuild: £62million project goes out to tender

Details of the brief says it is to facilitate the development of the Mackintosh Reinstatement for Glasgow School of Art. It requires to engage a professional team under three separate appointments namely, Project Management, Cost Management and Architect led full design team.

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In January a long-awaited report into the fire that ravaged the Glasgow School of Art for a second time concluded that the cause may never be known but wilful fire raising and electrical failure could not be "fully discounted."

Fire crews tackle the second fire in 2018 (Image: Newsquest)

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) published the findings of its investigation into the 2018 fire that caused catastrophic damage to the prized Mackintosh Building as it neared the end of a £35million restoration project following a previous blaze in May 2014.

A GSA spokesperson said it is vital that they maintain momentum of the Mackintosh Building Project and in parallel with the on-going enabling works (Phases 1 and 2), and the outputs of the GSA’s Estates Strategy currently being undertaken by Hawkins Brown.

The £62m figure is the outline constructions costs at this point in time, but not the cost of the overall project.

The spokesperson added: "We have now begun the procurement process to select an appropriately experienced Project Team comprising Project Managers, Cost Consultants and an Architect-led Design Team, which can deliver RIBA Stages 2-7 for the faithful reinstatement of the Mackintosh Building. This is in line with the Strategic Outline Business Case published in October 2021. 

"We will be following a Single Procurement Document process with the appointment of the team, identified through this robust process, expected be confirmed by the GSA’s Board of Governors in October 2022."

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Phase 1 of the project - the initial stabilisation works on the building - is now nearing completion.  Phase 2 of the  project, enabling works, which will put in place a structure to faithfully reinstate the Mackintosh Building, is expected to be completed the end of 2024. This will also see the removal of the majority of the existing structurally supporting scaffolding.

A faithful reinstatement of the Mackintosh building is the preferred option (Image: Newsquest)

The Mackintosh Project will be funded by insurance, philanthropic support, capital receipts from disposal of redundant buildings, revenue generation and reserves.

Leading Scottish architect and Glasgow School of Art alumni, Professor Alan Dunlop described this as the most important commission in decades.
Prof Dunlop said: "It requires an absolute commitment from the architect from the start and has to be undertaken with sensitivity, humility and respect for Mackintosh and his legacy."

The fire report made a series of recommendations which suggested the masterpiece building could have been better protected.

Fifty per cent of the building was said to be well alight within 38 minutes of the arrival of firefighters.

The report said accidental ignition by something like a cigarette could not be fully ruled out as well as a deliberate fire or an electrical failure.

Coverage of the entire scaffolding structure was not provided, which suggests that a person, or persons, could have accessed the building via the structure, undetected.

CCTV footage taken from the Sports Complex Building of St Aloysius College, captured a lone figure in the carpark approximately three hours after discovery of the fire. They were never traced by Police Scotland.

The report found that the timeframe concerning this individual did not coincide with the outbreak of fire, however, involvement earlier in wilful fire-raising activity "could not be fully discounted".

The SFRS said it is also possible that the system supplying electricity to the office areas on level 2 could have suffered a fault condition in an unknown location.

Kier Construction Limited was appointed in June 2016 as the main contractor for the restoration project.

The report says lessons should be learned for other  construction projects, particularly those involving building of cultural significance.

It said management teams responsible for delivery of construction or renovation projects, should ensure that, during the early planning stages of the project, they fully consider the risk of fire.