Achi news desk-
Ms Davidson, senior project manager on the Glasgow School of Art Regeneration project between 2014 and 2022, described the response following the first fire as empathetic but said the public response following the second, more devastating fire was “truly frightening”.
In a wide-ranging interview, Ms Davidson recalled the deep pain caused by the second fire, which, as well as destroying the Mackintosh building, also wiped out three years of painstaking work to restore the Mackintosh Library.
She further described the frustration of learning that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service was unable to find the cause of the 2018 fire, and spoke of her hopes for the future of the building.
Ms Davidson was appointed at the end of 2014 to lead the restoration of the Mackintosh building, having previously worked for Glasgow Building Preservation Trust and Glasgow City Council.
He was involved in the design and implementation of the streetscape adjacent to the art school’s new Mackintosh Building and Seona Reid Building, named for the previous director, so he was familiar with the school and its management.
Ms Davidson said: “We were a small team working on the restoration and we all knew it was the best job ever. Then came the worst after 2018.”
“It was a huge sense of responsibility.
“The director was relatively new – Tom Inns – but he was brilliant.
“The wonder of the Mack was that it has been in continuous use, unlike so many other world-class, iconic and incredible buildings that have changed use or become museums.
“We knew we should never bring it back so clean and depressing and lovely that the students couldn’t feel they could pass through the building with oversized sheets, banging on the door frames as they did every time, because that was the really amazing part of us – just that use.
“The Mack was always loved and adored by the people of Glasgow but he was never worshipped, and that was his brilliance, even though he demanded worship.”
Ms Davidson’s team was responsible for restoring the Mackintosh Library following a fire in 2014 which was sparked by a student project being prepared in a studio.
The library – of international repute – was destroyed along with more than 8000 books and around 80 oil paintings.
At night, once the workers had left, he would walk through the building which, he said, was always noisy, whether through the vibrations of the bands playing at the ABC next door or the screeching in the trees.
“There was a lot of noise in the building all the time,” he said. “You could feel him breathing again.”
The Mack was famous for the way Charles Rennie Mackintosh had used light throughout the building and this was one of the things that struck Ms Davidson.
“The light was the most amazing thing ever,” he added.
“Through the seasons, through the weather and time of day, it was constantly different and I don’t know that any other building in the world has handled and modulated light in the way that the Mack, through its all different ways of setting. light in, he did.
“Sometimes it rebounded – it was just the most amazing way of using light. I don’t know how any architect sits down and understands that intangible quality, but Mackintosh did.
“Because light is so essential to art practice and art production, he gave students this free material.”
Read more:
Alan Dunlop says Mackintosh would not want to rebuild an art school
As part of the research following the 2014 fire, billions of measurements were collected using lasers.
Ms Davidson said: “You could 3D print the building tomorrow if you wanted, which will help the rebuild.”
She also said that she had been amazed by the standard of craftsmanship in Scotland; the team only had to look to England once and that was for plasterers.
“So it’s a completely feasible project,” he said.
The first job after 2014 was to return what was lost but as a 21st century building with technological capability and energy efficiency.
Ms Davidson believes that restoring the Mack – whether as Mackintosh imagined or a new design – is possible, depending on what the school wants from the building.
He said it would be easier to redesign the building from its current skeleton frame and include additional details.
He added: “It will depend on the school’s brief in terms of what they need now as a performing arts school.
“Striking that balance is going to be key for them and then getting enough interest from the best architects to bid for the job as well.”
Following the 2014 fire the response was empathetic and supportive but the mood changed following the second fire.
He said: “After 2018 the backlash was very scary.
“I’ve never done social media and people would ask if I’d seen what’s on Facebook or Twitter or whatever.
“And I would say no, I’m sure it won’t help my state of mind right now to look at any of that.”
After working closely with the fire service for three years as officers tried to establish the cause of the fire, it was very frustrating to be left with no answers.
He said: “No one knew what caused it, there were all kinds of ideas flying around and that impression or accusation of negligence on the part of the school.
Alan Dunlop says he would not want to see the Mackintosh building restored
Glasgow School of Art to sell two buildings to help pay for Mack’s restoration
Students and politicians remember the pain of the 2014 art school fire
“Personally, I felt sorry for Tom and Muriel because I feel that neither of those two people caused a fire in a building.”
She said that Professor Inns “gave all the support” her team needed while Ms Gray enabled them to proceed with the decisions.
Within less than a year Ms Davidson’s team had an architect, engineer, quantity surveyor and mechanical engineer, all working on the design.
By 2018 the job was expected to be completed on time and within budget.
He said this was done with the support of Professor Inns, who was a “truly excellent” director who “let us make the decisions and listen to the advice he was given and make measured decisions and carry everyone with him”.
The efficiency of the 2014 response came from the quick decision to restore the building.
After 2018, Ms Davidson said the uncertainty over whether to restore or redesign the Mack and the ill-fated in question was part of the root of the ongoing delay.
He said: “The longer you ruminate, you lose momentum.
“The cost of the job is going through the roof, especially with inflation, and the fabric of the building is getting worse.”
Ms Davidson remembers the night of the 2018 fire vividly.
She was at home in the west end of Glasgow when the carer phoned during the day with the news so she cycled straight into the city centre.
There was a crowd as she came along Renfrew Street and saw Professor Inns; the pair tried to make their way to the front of the group.
All the front windows of the Mack were in flames by then and she said she had never seen anything like it.
He said: “The next day we put drones over the building and it was just empty spaces.
“It was something I would never want to relive again.
“There was only one bright lining, that no one was hurt and that is a miracle, to be honest.”
In the early days there was a point where she thought the building would have to come down but on that first night, Ms Davidson made three calls: to the insurers, to the demolition company, and the third to the insurers.
The insurance consultant came straight away and he and Ms Davidson worked through the night.
The building was intensively monitored for the first six weeks with every millimeter of movement on the Mack being measured and recorded.
He said: “It was kind of a flat pack box that wanted to disassemble itself.
“We had to get the two layers dropped inside the building very quickly to build X-frames inside and at the same time, put scaffolding on the outside of the building.
“And the scaffolders were absolutely heroic, we had three companies working together which was just superhuman.”
As for the future of the Mack, he says he will feel hopeful once a design team has been appointed to take the matter forward.
He said: “I would love to see it back as a working art school.
“I don’t think Mackintosh was that purist. He was a true innovator in his day and was always looking for the latest gizmo or new material that he could use to achieve his goals.
“If they could bring back a building that still had its spirit and soul because I’ve never known a building that had a life of its own, like the Mackintosh building, it can easily serve and do the great job that again to another 100. years to Glasgow School of Art.”
Read all articles in the Glasgow School of Art fire series here.
