A SCOTS fire chief has said they will look at the fire safety measures that were in place at the time of the Glasgow School of Art fire as part of an major investigation.

Assistant Chief Officer of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Services, David McGowan, said the multi-agency investigation will take a "significant period of time" and promised: "We will uncover the facts."

Flames tore  throughthe celebrated Mackintosh building after it caught fire at about 11.20pm on Friday.

The blaze spread to nearby buildings, including the Campus nightclub and O2 ABC music venue, but no-one was reported injured.

Mr McGowan, in a video, explained that it will be an extremely complex investigation and that CCTV footage will be looked at.

Video: 'Devastating' fire ravages Glasgow School of Art and O2 ABC music venue

He added: "We will also look at the fire safety measures that were in place in the building beforehand."

He praised firefighters who he said had been "working extremely hard since Friday night and Saturday morning to extinguish this fire".

He said: "We will be on site for as long as it takes to ensure all pockets of fire are identified and extinguished.

"This was an extremely complicated and very well developed fire when our crews first arrived and great credit must be given to the effort that has been made fighting a fire in an extremely complicated structure in the city centre.

"We will uncover the facts.  This will be an extremely complex investigation. It will take a signficant period of time. That is simply because we will ensure that we carry out the investigation thoroughly, professionally and provide an absolute accurate report about what happened here, what the cause was and how we can learn lessons in the future.  

"So it is important that we give our highly specialised, highly trained fire investigators time to work with our colleagues in Police Scotland and others to do that job thoroughly and professionally. "