Glasgow School of Art says ABC plans put Mackintosh Building rebuild at significant risk

In July last year, the Glasgow School of Art appointed two architecture firms to lead the revised plan to restore the Mackintosh building. At the same time, the school conceded that work to restore Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s masterpiece, which was decimated by two fires in four years, will not be complete in the next decade. The stark admission came as work that undertaken since 2018 ground to a halt as legal wrangles took precedence and an arbitration process with insurers began.

Now Professor Penny Macbeth, Director and Principal of the Glasgow School of Art and Mackintosh Building Project Sponsor, is pointing the finger at plans for the ABC building site adjacent to the art school, claiming they pose a significant threat to efforts to reinstate the fire-ravaged structure.

She said: “The recommendation for approval places our commitment to the rebuilding of the Mackintosh Building at significant risk. The former Jumping Jaks/ABC site proposals fundamentally compromise the Mackintosh Building’s heritage significance as a purpose-design art school and with it, the Building’s future use as a working art school with the economic, social, cultural and wider regeneration benefits this will bring to the City.

“Exercising our responsibilities as custodians of the Mackintosh, committed to its rebuilding as a working school of art, only works if the responsibilities of the City Council, as custodians of Glasgow’s built heritage, are exercised wisely, balancing immediate economic benefits against the longer term impact of the decisions they take. We all agree that the redevelopment of the former Jumping Jaks/ABC is a once in a generation opportunity to positively transform this part of the city. However, it needs to be done without detrimental impact to the internationally significant Category A-listed Mackintosh.

We have been clear in our extensive discussions with VITA that, while recognising the importance and complexities of this city block, an achievable solution can be found which delivers both financially viability for them while mitigating impact to the Mackintosh Building and Glasgow’s important built heritage.”

James Grimley of Reiach and Hall Architects - appointed with fellow architectural firm Purcell to “robustly test” the Art School’s rebuild plans - comments: “The massing and proximity of the proposed development would cause grave harm to the setting, character, and function of the Mackintosh Building including significantly reducing daylight and compromising the buildings intended function where daylight is integral to its design and purpose.

“Equally important is how the functionality of several critical spaces would be compromised by the proposals, reducing the educational and experiential value of these, the overall heritage significance of the building as one of the world’s first purpose-designed schools of art and also its use and purpose when rebuilt.

“There are alternative approaches that would reduce the development’s detrimental impact on a building of such international importance. A revised scheme that respects and protects the Mackintosh Building’s future both as a heritage asset and working art school as it was designed should be pursued.”

The statement on the planning application adds that revised plans for the reinstatement of the art school building will be published later this year.