THE chair of the Glasgow School of Art, Muriel Gray, has told MSPs she has “no regrets” over the way the school (GSA) had treated the Mackintosh Building.

At a session of the Culture Committee of the Scottish Parliament, Ms Gray told its convenor, Joan McAlpine MSP, that although she had been “heart broken” by the fires, she would not have changed any of the decisions made about how the GSA ran the historic building.

MSPs on the committee spent more than an hour quizzing Ms Gray, as well as Professor Irene McAra-McWilliam, deputy director, and Liz Davidson the senior project manager of the Mackintosh Building Restoration.

The committee heard how a mist suppression system, for battling fires in the building when it re-opened, was 60% finished, albeit not operational, by the time of the June fire this year.

Ms McAlpine expressed surprise that, after a report on the fire safety of the building in 2006, the Mackintosh had not had voids filled or a sprinkler system installed.

The causes of the 2018 fire are still unknown, and fire service and Police Scotland investigations are still ongoing: the police, the committee heard, still have 70 interviews to conduct.

A report into the blaze and its causes are expected early next year and the fire service has said it has a “high volume” of information to deal with in a “complex” case.

MSPs asked why mist suppression systems had not been installed before the 2014 fire, and this year.

In a statement released after the session, the GSA said: “For the period of time that the Mackintosh Building was undergoing restoration and was in the possession of the principal contractor, it was covered by Kier Scotland’s fire plan.

“This plan was required under the terms of the principal contractor contract for the building works.

“Kier Scotland’s plan included a wide range of measures, but not a sprinkler system as whilst there are some systems that can be used in some building sites, there is no system to our knowledge that could have been used during the works in as complex a building as the Mack.

“Therefore, Kier Scotland required to put other measures in place to mitigate the risk which they did.”

Ms Davidson noted that there were no public visits to the site - a subject of some comment recently - in the week of the conflagration, and none on the day of the fire.

She said that an office used by GSA staff was maintained in the east wing, and had a kettle and a microwave, both of which were tested for safety.

Ms Gray said the board of the GSA are committed to rebuilding the building, on Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s plans.

Towards the end of the session, Ms McAlpine asked: “Do you have any regrets at all, in terms of the decisions you have made, would have done anything differently, do you take any responsibility?”

Ms Gray said: “I take full responsibility, at all times, for what happens at the GSA, 100%.

“I have massive regrets that we have suffered two major disasters, it is more than regret, it has broken my heart.

“We have audited ourselves in precisely the same way as this committee rightfully has.

“There is no question that you have asked that we have not asked ourselves 100 times.

“We keep asking ourselves, could we have done this better? Is there something we missed? Is there a lesson we can learn to take forward? So we are very self-critical.

“I don’t have any regrets about the process, I have massive regrets that these things have happened - but no, I can’t say in all conscience say that I would have done anything differently.”

She added: “I do regret not having engaged, and more fully, with the local community.

“I really do, because that was a communications mistake, and it wasn’t intended. That is the one thing I do regret.”

Ms Gray also rejected notions that guests to the building were “milling about”.

When pressed by Ms McAlpine, Ms Gray added: “I have really gone over this, over and again, we are very self examining.”

In a submission to the committee, the departed director of the GSA, Professor Tom Inns, suggests any rebuild of the Mackintosh Building could be overseen by a Trust.

Afterwards, Ms McAlpine said: "We had a full and frank exchange of views with representatives from the Glasgow School of Art today.

"The committee will now request the fire plan and insurance document covering the restoration of the Mackintosh building prior to the 2018 fire.

“There are wider issues here around how best to protect historic buildings.

"This is why we have invited Historic Environment Scotland to give evidence, on 29 November, to hear more about their role in protecting Scotland’s architectural treasures.”