SerpApi.Org
July 22 (UPI) -- The Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh building, damaged twice by fire, would cost too much for the school to fully rebuild on its own, the school's board of governors said Wednesday.
Rebuilding the school in line with artist and architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh's original design would cost about $355 million, the school said in a press release Wednesday.
That amount is "equivalent to five times the GSA's annual turnover [revenue], an amount that is not affordable and which would compromise the financial sustainability of the institution."
The Art Nouveau building, completed in 1909, was damaged by fire twice. Much of the building was destroyed in 2014 after a student's art project was ignited by an overhead projector. In June 2018, when the rebuilding was nearly complete, another fire destroyed it. There was no cause found for the second fire, which ignited a dispute between the school and its insurance company that ended in arbitration that wrapped up this spring.
Neil Baxter, architectural historian and former lecturer in architectural history at the school, said the building is "of the greatest world importance," and said, "The Scottish government should step up, and if it can't, the British government should step up," The New York Times reported.
The school released an 80-page analysis Wednesday that highlights the potential for the Mackintosh Building "to become an anchor project in a creative and cultural production innovation district, attracting investment to the city, driving the growth of its creative economy, and supporting new businesses and employment opportunities."
Ann Priest, chair of the Glasgow School of Art's board of governors, said early discussions with Scottish and British government officials ahead of the announcement "have been supportive and incredibly positive."
Priest said the board believes the building should be a "heritage-led economic regeneration project, building on the existing creative and cultural production assets within this part of the city, to strengthen Glasgow's creative eco-system and its position as one of the UK's leading creative economies.
"The Mack will always have a special place at the heart of The Glasgow School of Art's history, and we have further plans within the next phase of work to create museum standard interpretations of the building that will exist alongside its retained architectural elements and help tell the story of this remarkable place and the people who have worked and studied there for years to come," Priest said.
Gordon Gibb, a former director of professional studies at the school's architecture department, said that the school needs another organization to "take over" the restoration.
"This is a building that influenced world architecture and changed Victorian traditionalism into modernism," Gibb told The Times. "We have detailed records of every part of it," he added, "so it should be brought back."
