PLANS to allow residents back into their homes following the Glasgow School of Art fire have been delayed by security issues.
Dozens of people living nearby the art school had expected to be able to return to their homes yesterday but housing bosses were forced to postpone the process after discovering that doors to the properties had been severely damaged.
Residents are now being given access to their homes between the hours of 10am and 3pm until the doors are replaced.
Glasgow City Council confirmed that “support was available” for residents, but added that the move-in is being managed by the landlord for the majority of the properties, Charing Cross Housing Association.
As they arrived at their homes yesterday for the first time in 10 weeks, residents were given dust masks before being briefed by the association’s maintenance officer and escorted to their homes.
They were advised not to open their fridges due to rotting food and were given a starter pack of cleaning products.
Iram Shafiq, 21, her mother Rifat, 43, her brothers Amir, 23, and Kasim, 11, and her sister Rima, 17, left their Dalhousie Street home on June 16 with just the clothes they were wearing.
Both Kasim and Rima are autistic, and Rima also suffers from severe epilepsy.
Ms Shafiq said: “The flat really needs cleaned. There is dirt on the walls, dust and water damage that will need repaired and our door is broken.”
Another resident, who did not want to be named, said: “The damage isn’t as bad as I had been preparing for but there were some small things missing, including my wallet which I left behind after being removed by police.
“It’s obvious there have been people inside, whether that’s contractors or otherwise.
“I’ve got some water ingress on my ceiling and the close ceiling seems to be leaking but the water has been off so it’s possible there has been a leak.”
Charing Cross Housing Association said it has no set date for when its tenants will be able to return permanently.
Alasdair Weir, a maintenance officer with the housing association, said: “The police have forced access to the properties so all the doors are damaged. To what extent we didn’t know until Saturday.
“It’s going to take until the end of the week to get that sorted.
“There’s no power in one of the buildings, so the doors are not secured and we’ve had to board up all the closes – it’s been challenging.”
Pauline McNeill MSP said she was “furious” at the lack of co-ordination by the authorities as residents prepared to return home.
She added: “The council has not taken responsibility for these poor people, it’s an absolute failure of their public and moral duty.
“It was obvious to a child if you were out of your home for 10 weeks and weren’t allowed to return there would be environmental issues, issues with locks, issues with electricity and gas. It would be obvious.
“They abandoned them as far as I’m concerned. They need some kind of support after the trauma they have all been through.
“More financial assistance will be needed as well.”
Nearby businesses are also continuing their clean-up efforts after being granted access to their properties on Saturday.
Francis McKee, director of the Centre for Contemporary Arts, was granted access for an hour only to discover flooding in one of their galleries.
He explained: “We’re hoping to be back in between September 3 and 7 to get things in order and repair the flooding.
“Our deep clean will take around three days and then we’re hoping to uphold our commitments in terms of exhibitions by turning the events spaces for installations that haven’t been seen yet.”
- Sunday Herald View: The wall of silence over the art gallery school fire must be destroyed
A council spokesman said: “Support has been arranged and is available. As anyone would expect, however, it is being managed by the tenants’ landlord – which owns and has responsibility for their homes.
“Residents did ask the council to arrange a number of resources, like additional waste collections, and these are also all in place.
“This is in addition to a wide range of other support and services that have been made available since the fire – including emergency and temporary accommodation and £3,000 to cover unexpected costs while waiting on insurance settlements.”
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