B-listed historic school in east end to be demolished despite opposition

Plans have been lodged to tear down the building in Queen Mary Street as it is considered “dangerous.”

A massive blaze broke out at the Bridgeton derelict building last month with 12 fire engines rushing to the emergency.

Glasgow City Council applied for listed building consent to demolish the building this month.

MSP Paul Sweeney said he had tried to persuade the council to “preserve the facades of Queen Mary Street public school” to no avail.

Hand demolition has already started, according to a planning application lodged by the council.

The application said: “Following the outbreak of fire on the evening of April 23, 2022, Glasgow Building Control confirmed following a site visit that the building was now dangerous due to damage and should be demolished. Hand demolition of the north east corner later commenced.”

Explaining the condition of the building, the application said almost the entire roof structure is destroyed and internal walls “have extensively collapsed.” It said external walls are now likely to be “structurally unstable.”

Lettering in the stonework is to be kept for future use but Mr Sweeney would like to see more of the building preserved.

Mr Sweeney said: “Despite my vigorous attempts to persuade Glasgow City Council to examine options to preserve the facades of Queen Mary Street public school after the disastrous fire that gutted the building last month, they have steadfastly refused to do so, and have already proceeded with total demolition of the building. This application for listed building consent is therefore a fait accompli, but I will still object to it on principle.

He added: “I asked that specialist conservation engineers were brought in to assess the building for the feasibility of facade retention, in a similar way to the solution recently achieved at Haghill School where whole facades were numbered and dismantled carefully for future reassembly, but this was refused.”

The status of the planning application is ‘pending consideration.’

The site is reportedly owned by the council.