Glasgow School of Art cannot afford to restore fire-hit Mackintosh building

Glasgow School of Art's Mackintosh Building was wrecked by two fires in 2014 and 2018

Glasgow School of Art says it cannot fully restore the city's iconic Mackintosh Building to its former state without additional financial support.

The art school previously insisted it was committed to a faithful reinstatement of the building, which was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh but wrecked by two fires in 2014 and 2018.

However it now says "financial clarity", provided by an insurance settlement regarding the 2018 blaze, has shown it "cannot take forward the faithful reinstatement on its own."

Instead it suggests the building has potential to be an anchor for a "creative and cultural production innovation district".

But this claim that has attracted scorn from figures in the art world.

The GSA's new report into restoration plans says several factors - including construction inflation, market volatility and economic pressure - have made the reinstatement of the Mackintosh far more expensive than predicted in a previous report, published in 2021.

The report states fully restoring the Mackintosh is therefore "dependent on external funding sources that are uncertain", and cites a "significant funding gap" needing to be resolved.

It believes the total cost of restoring the Mackintosh would be £265m.

The empty interior of the west side of the Mackintosh building

Ann Priest, the chair of the school's board of governors, told BBC Scotland News: "What we are doing is what is affordable to us.

"The school cannot possibly, on its own, rebuild this whole building. It would take us away from financial sustainability.

"We are still hoping to go towards a full, faithful reinstatement. It's not going to be an exact replica, due to changes in construction and building [standards]."

She said the school would now look for "visionary individuals" who could bring "serious investment" to the project, as well as governments and local authorities.

The GSA will now remove external scaffolding about the building, saying this will improve the building's presentation and visibility, as well as helping stabilise the site.

Priest added that this will be the first step in "the reinstatement for whatever this building is going to become" and called the new proposals a landmark move for the long-term future of the site.

She said: "We have looked at the economic case, what does Glasgow need, what do our students need and what will benefit the school, the building and the creative and cultural industries."

The painter and writer Lachlan Goudie told BBC Scotland News the poss