GLASGOW school of Art management of the Mackintosh Building is destroying Sauchiehall Street businesses and residents claim.

A group representing shops in Sauchiehall Street and Garnethill residents has written to MSPs slamming the School of Art bosses accusing them of a “cavalier attitude”.

Many businesses remain closed four months on from the second fire to hit the famous Charles Rennie Mackintosh Building.

The safety cordon around the building has been reduced to allow residents to the east of the site to return home and businesses on the south side of Sauchiehall Street to re-open. Others including the Centre for Contemporary Arts remain shut.

The 02 ABC is destroyed and Campus next door is badly damaged and is off limits for the owners.

The Sauchiehall Street Inner Cordon Businesses and Garnethill Displaced Residents Group has written to the Culture committee at Holyrood who are looking into the impact on the surrounding area in the aftermath of the fire.

The groups said that businesses and residents are expected to “sit back” while the Mackintosh is taken down brick by brick in a slow and painstaking fashion with no information about the destiny of their premises.

The groups said that some businesses have not fully recovered from the first fire in 2014 making them even more concerned for the future when they are able to re-open.

The school of Art management board comes in for serious criticism. It is accused of being more concerned with courting celebrities and ignoring the rest of the community.

The statement said: “ The management self-confessedly learnt to engage with the wider world, garnering support for the rebuild from celebrities, philanthropists, former students and those intent on ‘doing their bit’ for Glasgow.

Unfortunately they failed to engage with the community on their doorstep.”

They said there was money left over from the fundraising after the 2014 fire but nothing was earmarked for the local community.

The statement continues: “While they were anticipating celebrating their momentous achievement, the neighbours were undergoing a protracted trial of their goodwill.”

The residents and business owners said the School of Art failed to learn from the 2014 fire and warnings beforehand.

They stated: “No lessons were learned and if you allow an analogy, a GSoA super tanker has crashed twice into the rocks of the Garnethill community causing a risk to life and a devastation to local residents and businesses.”

The “romanticising” of the Mackintosh building has been criticised by residents and businesses who say it is “simply another building which was a timebomb”.

The group said they recognise the Mackintosh and its history is loved by many but to them it represents a “Distant, selfish, inward looking and thoughtless neighbour.”

They said the Mackintosh was “merely a symbol, a building which housed a distant and effete community”.The businesses and residents feel that the Mackintosh Building and the School of Art is not as economically important to the area as other businesses.

They said the building drew tens of thousands of visitors a year. However that was compared to the O2 ABC which they said attracted between 500,000 and 750,000 people a year and the CCS brought in around 350,000. The O2ABC is destroyed inside with the roof collapsing and the CCA is shut until at least the middle of this month.

The residents submission said: “These were the venues upon which many businesses depended. The students who attend the GSoA undoubtedly bring life to the area and given the poor ratings achieved by the school itself it seems the pulling power of the Mack is overriding to the student market.”

The School of Art is been criticised as being not caring and uninvolved in the community, stating it has been a building site for ten years .

They stated: “An undercurrent of resentment was already circulating in sections of the community.”

Professor Tom Inns Director of Glasgow School of Art said: “We are sorry that there is a sense that The Glasgow School of Art did not engage with our community. The GSA is part of Garnethill.

"Our students, who come from many and diverse communities both in Scotland and beyond, work in local businesses, regularly attended events at venues such as the ABC O2 and were involved in projects with local groups including schools. The GSA staff and students also work very closely with the CCA.

"Before the fire we were beginning to plan the events to celebrate the reopening of the Mackintosh Building and the programme of public access which would have given the community and the city on-going opportunities to come in and enjoy Mackintosh’s masterpiece. We remain firm in our commitment to access to the rebuilt Mack for Glaswegians through Open Studio classes, our Widening Participation work, exhibitions and other events.

“Like everyone we are keen to find out more about the cause of the fire, which is the subject of an official investigation by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. As we await the findings of their investigation it is important to reiterate that all the companies tendering for the main contract for the restoration of the Mackintosh Building were required to submit a detailed fire prevention strategy that addressed the very specific needs of the Mackintosh Building. Kier Construction(Scotland) Ltd, who were in control of the site on 15 June, had such a plan in place.

“We have stated that The Glasgow School of Art will rebuild the Mack and bring it back not just as a working art school, but as resource for Garnethill and a creative powerhouse for Glasgow as it has been for over 100 years. We want our neighbours to play a full part in this process and we are looking forward to working closely with them.”

RESPONSE

‘GSA is part of Garnethill’, says director

PROFESSOR Tom Inns, the School of Art’s director, said they were sorry there is a sense the Glasgow School of Art did not engage with our community. 

He said: “The GSA is part of Garnethill. Our students, work in local businesses, regularly attended events at venues such as the ABC O2 and were involved in projects with local groups including schools. 

“Before the fire we were beginning to plan the events to celebrate the reopening of the Mackintosh Building.

“Like everyone we are keen to find out more about the cause of the fire, which is the subject of an official investigation. 

“We have stated that The Glasgow School of Art will rebuild the Mack and bring it back not just as a working art school, but as resource for Garnethill and a creative powerhouse for Glasgow as it has been for over 100 years. We want our neighbours to play a full part in this process and we are looking forward to working closely with them.”