Glasgow School of Art is exploring plans for new creative and cultural district around its fire-ravaged Mackintosh Building as part of a wider vision to regenerate the area around Sauchiehall Street.
The internationally famous Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed building could become the centrepiece of a new “creative and cultural production innovation district”, attracting investment, businesses and jobs to an area of Glasgow city centre which has faced years of disruption and decline.
The idea is contained in Glasgow School of Art’s latest Strategic Outline Business Case for the future of the Mackintosh Building.
The art school said the 80-page analysis identified the potential for the building to become an “anchor project” for a wider innovation cluster, with discussions now planned with Glasgow City Council, the Scottish Government, other stakeholders and potential investment partners.
International examples being considered for the wider concept include 22@ in Barcelona, which transformed a former industrial area into an innovation district, and Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles cultural district.
The proposal comes as Glasgow School of Art faces a major challenge over the future of the Mackintosh Building itself.
A full reinstatement of the building is now estimated to cost around £265 million, equivalent to five times the art school’s annual turnover.
The Board of Governors has concluded that GSA cannot afford to carry out the full faithful reinstatement on its own without threatening the financial sustainability of the institution.
Restoring the building will require funding and partnership with government, council and other partners capable of helping fund the longer-term project.
In the meantime, GSA will use money from the settlement of its insurance claim following the devastating 2018 fire to carry out a first phase of work.
The project will replace the huge external scaffolding which has surrounded the Mackintosh Building since the fire with an internal retention system, revealing the building’s exterior again and creating a more secure structure for future work. The art school says work will begin on site in summer 2027.
The Mackintosh Building has been at the centre of one of Scotland’s longest-running heritage controversies. It was badly damaged by fire in May 2014 before another blaze tore through the building in June 2018 while a £35 million restoration project was nearing completion.
The latest thinking places its future within the much bigger regeneration challenge facing Sauchiehall Street and the surrounding city centre.
A separate Sauchiehall Street Culture and Heritage District programme is already under way, backed by £2.3 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and involving Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council and cultural organisations including GSA, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Glasgow Film Theatre.
That programme includes plans to bring the upper floors of the McLellan Galleries back into use as creative space, explore opportunities for affordable housing and support improvements to historic buildings.
Glasgow School of Art has also previously described the wider area as having the potential to develop into a “creative supercluster”.
Ann Priest, chair of the GSA Board of Governors, said the institution still wants to see the Mackintosh Building rebuilt.
She said the landmark could “have a new purpose and become a catalyst for innovation, regeneration and economic growth for Glasgow”.
There is not yet a detailed masterplan or planning application for the proposed innovation district, with the concept currently at an exploratory stage.
The next step will be discussions between GSA, the city, government and potential partners over whether the wider ambition can be delivered.