A few days ago, Glasgow’s art school, a prestigious institution, went down in flames. This is the second time the building burns in a spawn of a few years.
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The Glasgow School of Art, a prestigious art school founded in 1845, burned down between Friday 15th and Saturday 16th of June. The same building suffered another fire in May 2014. The building was built between 1897 and 1909 and designed by the architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and was considered a historic building, as well as one of the most important buildings in Scotland, from an architectural point of view.
The firemen said there were no victims. Nearby buildings had to be evacuated for the safety of the locals. Some 120 firemen took part in the operation to control and extinguish the fire. Sunday 17th, around 50 firefighters were still present on the scene, making sure the fire was properly extinguished.
The building was undergoing restauration from the 2014 fire. The restauration cost was estimated at some 35 million British pounds. The investigation on the causes of the fire will now take place, but it is already known that sprinklers were not fully fitted, which isn’t too surprising, as the building was under renovation.
Some experts claim it is better to demolish the remains of the building, as fixing it in its current state is not possible. Others say that part of what remains can be reinforced and restored. It’s already been confirmed the building will be rebuild, whatever the cost ends up being, due to the importance of the structure to the city of Glasgow. Some experts estimate the cost of restauration at over 100 million British pounds.
