On December 8, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris to the public for the first time since fire raged through the 14th-century building in April 2019. It has taken just over five years to restore the cathedral – an extraordinary achievement. Scotland’s much-loved , also devastated by fire, has not fared so well. Two blazes in a decade and a have left the iconic art nouveau landmark shrouded in scaffolding.
In 2014, the partially destroyed the building. A scarcely believable left only a shell standing. Painstaking, expensive work to recreate the and other parts of the school which had just been completed, turned to ashes.
The people of Glasgow were incredulous. Twice they had lost this prized heritage building that had stood as a beacon of creative arts and culture for 125 years, exemplifying the “Glasgow style” of Scottish architect .
The young Glaswegian whose work influenced art movements across Europe, such as and , was seen as a pioneer of modernism. His work stood out as a new interpretation of modern architecture where asymmetry of form and attention to detail, decoration and furnishings defined the aesthetic.
The destruction of the art school stands as a threefold loss: that of a famous educational establishment, a landmark building for the city of Glasgow and an important tourist attraction for Scotland. Despite the devastation, the international fame and reputation of the building still carries heft.
This has left the professional conservation community in a between conserving the art school’s intangible values as a modern piece of art and place of education, and its faithful reconstruction as a major historic Scottish building. This dilemma comes with enormous financial, ethical and practical challenges.
There has been an in removing debris, consolidating the building and dismantling key parts of the site in preparation for the reconstruction work. But recent have cast doubt over the completion of the conservation work – and consequently the future of the building.
The increase in costs and the timescale of the proposed work began to affect the feasibility of completing the conservation project. Since following a legal dispute with insurers in May 2024, a revised proposal is now being considered. It now looks like the work will not be completed for at least another decade or more.
The cost of delay
This is an astonishing state of affairs for such a important building that attracts international attention. But issues over funding and donations have , delaying the final plan to restore the art school. This is all the more galling when raised than €846 million (£707m) after the fire of April 2019, and President Macron fulfilled his promise to complete the rebuilding within five years.
The authorities need to listen to and the city’s when it comes to the conservation and revitalisation of the art school.
This is critical to efforts to create a well-supported and managed plan for the regeneration of the building. Any delay further affects the costs, eroding the in the last few years. It also causes further damage to the fabric of the building and its value in terms of heritage, tourism and amenity for artists.
The the art school is paramount for a building of such historical and architectural significance. But key to its success are in-depth evaluation processes as well as enough time, budget and skills that enable the completion of the work without running into ethical and authenticity debates.
This article is part of our series. These articles tackle the challenges of the arts and heritage industry – and celebrate the wins, too.
is an important concept in heritage conservation. If there are no extensive archival materials, the authenticity of the reconstructed parts can be subject to assumptions and falsifications.
It is also important to ensure clear differentiation between old and new for future generations. Faithful restoration using the same materials requires a quite different process from , where original materials have been destroyed.
Owing to the severe impact of the fire, this also depends on how detailed the building has been documented to provide accurate information for the reconstruction work, and how specialists will replace the destroyed substance of the building.
Although there have been serious attempts to of the two fires, two critical dimensions should be considered when thinking about the impact of the delay to faithful reconstruction. The first is the approach to restore the lost physical components that were not fully recorded. The second is the and degradation of the building without proper treatment and restoration.
Another huge challenge is the lack of traditional and heritage skills in the UK, which puts considerable pressure on the project in terms of time and money. This is an important part of the as it raises further uncertainty about a faithful reconstruction.
The saw local and traditional craftsmanship playing a key role in the project. This aspect is moving in a positive direction with the UK signing up to Unesco’s , which should drive new training programmes in traditional arts and crafts, building skills and technologies.
Despite the value of the faithful reconstruction of this architectural masterpiece, it is crucial to make sure that a is adopted to protect and preserve the building. The Mackintosh art school will require alternative strategies in the meantime to avoid the effect of skills shortage on its preservation work.
, Associate Professor in Architectural Heritage, School of Architecture, Art and Design,
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