Glasgow City Council’s Building Standards team complete final assessment of the remaining structure at Union Corner after fire ravaged the historic landmark on Sunday.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has scaled back their operations at what remains of Union Corner, the 175 year old building that was destroyed by fire on Sunday. This change in emphasis at the site as allowed Glasgow City Council to take custody of the site and complete an inspection. The priority task for today was to establish the fate of the facade, the one section of the building that remained standing.

This afternoon the Council issued an update: “We are now in control of the Union Street site, and after a full and final assessment of the remaining structure, our Building Standards team have decided that demolition must happen in the interests of public safety.

“Scottish Fire and Rescue Service are still on site to take care of remaining hot spots.”

The Building Standards team were visiting the site since the fire was brought under control. Their initial assessment was that the remains of the structure was in poor condition and parts of the remaining structure have continued to collapse, including parts of the southern gable.

“Building Control is currently working with engineers, and partners Network Rail and ScotRail before the site can be handed over to the council for further assessment and recovery” they said.

Police Scotland road closures and the cordon have been reduced, but many are still in place in the immediate vicinity of Glasgow Central Station. Bus routes have been altered and bus stops closed due to road closures on Union Street.

First Minister John Swinney told MSPs this week: “Let me be clear, the Scottish Government will stand with the city of Glasgow, as it recovers from this fire. And given the significant costs the city faces, we will back those words with cash.”

Raymond Barlow, head of building standards in the city, said: “Since the early part of the fire in Union Street, and as part of the wider programme of assistance to the fire service, my staff have been on site trying to view the building and view the damage.

“As everyone will realise, there was a catastrophic collapse during the height of the fire, with the front facade coming down.

“Since then, working with fire service colleagues, we have seen there have been further collapses in the intervening period, the most recent of which was the southern gable of the remaining structure.

“What this means is that what remains now in place is seriously compromised but as the fire service colleagues are still fully in charge of the site, we can only get access to a limited extent.”

Network Rail Scotland has said the upper concourse of Glasgow Central Station will remain closed until at least Monday.

More than 200 firefighters were involved in tackling the Union Corner fire, with 18 fire appliances and a specialist resource deployed to the city centre in response to the blaze that began in a vape shop on the ground floor of the Victorian building that was home to 50 small businesses.