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Original article: https://theconversation.com/glasgow-school-of-art-wrangles-delays-and-challenges-of-a-faithful-reconstruction-ten-years-on-236728
On December 8, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris will open its doors 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 Glasgow School of Art, also devastated by fire, has not fared so well. Two blazes in a decade and a restoration project mired in controversy have left the iconic art nouveau landmark shrouded in scaffolding.
In 2014, the first fire partially destroyed the building. A scarcely believable second fire in 2018 left only a shell standing. Painstaking, expensive work to recreate the library 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 Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
The young Glaswegian whose work influenced art movements across Europe, such as art nouveau and secessionism, 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.
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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 dilemma 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.
John Peter Photography / Alamy
There has been an energetic move forward in removing debris, consolidating the building and dismantling key parts of the site in preparation for the reconstruction work. But recent wrangles with insurers 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 plans for the rebuild were shelved 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 failed to reflect this fact, delaying the final plan to restore the art school. This is all the more galling when Notre Dame raised than €846 million (£707m) after the fire of April 2019, and President Macron fulfilled his promise to complete the rebuilding within five years.
Saskia Brouns / Alamy
The authorities need to listen to what matters to the people of Glasgow and the city’s artists 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 almost-enough funding that has been raised 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 proposal to faithfully reconstruct 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 State of the Arts series. These articles tackle the challenges of the arts and heritage industry – and celebrate the wins, too.
Authenticity 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 reconstruction of missing elements, 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 document the aftermath 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 material and structural 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 long-term management of the project as it raises further uncertainty about a faithful reconstruction.
The restoration of Notre Dame 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 intangible cultural heritage convention, 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 balanced and realistic approach 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.