Renowned architect launches campaign for full rebuild of Glasgow School of Art - 'Scotland's Notre Dame'

Malcolm Fraser is working to “unite a groundswell of people” to get behind a campaign to enable a full rebuild of the structure known as the Mack, which was ravaged by fire for a second time in 2018 - just as it was nearing completion of renovations following a blaze four years earlier.

Mr Fraser, who is behind buildings including Glasgow’s Scottish Ballet headquarters and the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh, said the failure to rebuild the Mack demonstrated a “clear, systemic problem” with the treatment of heritage buildings in Scotland. The building was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in phases between 1896 and 1906.

Launching the Rebuild the Mack campaign, Mr Fraser said: “The Mack is - or was - by general agreement, our finest testament to our great tradition in building. Our Notre Dame - utterly Scottish and utterly international, muckle and robust, crafted and delicate.

“The comparison with Notre Dame shames us: France’s most cherished building burnt down one year after our second fire, but is now gloriously rebuilt, while the Mack still stands as four gaunt walls round a sepulchral void."

Notre Dame, in Paris, was ravaged by fire in 2019. It re-opened after a major restoration five years later.

He added: “The current impasse, for various reasons to do with legal and insurance disputes, adds huge insult to the vast injuries the two fires wrought. For in Scotland, we have a clear, systemic problem with how we treat our heritage and we must learn from these failures. We need to learn from those at GSA, to avoid further catastrophes.”

Weekend reports claimed the building would undergo only a partial rebuild, with only the facade of the building set to be retained. It was claimed plans could be revealed to create a modern building inside the frame, ditching hopes that the designs originally created by Mackintosh would be reproduced.

A spokesman for GSA claimed the reports were “not accurate” and said an announcement relating to investment in the future of the building, which would “confirm our commitment to it”, will be made on Wednesday morning.

Mr Fraser acknowledged the “huge challenges” of fundraising or the rebuild, but called for Scotland to take on the mission of a rebuild.

He said: “We would like to start off with a simple first assertion, that we as a nation must be clear about: the Mack must be rebuilt.”

He said the quick success of the Notre Dame rebuild was underwritten by the French Government, but warned the debates on cause and responsibility “still rage like an ongoing fire here”.

Mr Fraser said he believed that “further recriminations and blaming” over the two fires would “achieve nothing”.

He pointed to a team of joiners who had already reconstructed the library after the first and before the second fire, who had indicated they could “easily and quickly” rebuild it.

“There is no better recorded, debated and understood building in Scotland, and we know how to rebuild it,” he said.