The Glasgow School of Art is looking to sell off two of its properties as part of its bid to raise funds for the resurrection of the landmark Mackintosh Building.
The disposal of its Richmond and JD Kelly buildings are included as part of its bid to raise more than £100million for the reinstatement of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh masterpiece in the wake of two fires in 2014 and 2018, it can be confirmed.
Funds are also hoped to be gained from the fire insurance claim and through donations and pledges. It also hoped to dip into its own reserves.
The Herald has previously revealed that GSA has already raised over £100m through insurance payouts and fund-raising since the devastating 2014 blaze.
In January, last year, Penny Macbeth, GSA director, said it did not anticipate calling on government funding if the project went to plan.
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And Muriel Gray, the first female chair of the board of governors at GSA, said the school hoped to use minimal amounts of public money for the project and rely on funds from its insurance cover and a private fundraising drive.
The Herald previously revealed that a six-year failure to reach an agreement over the "complex" insurance claim over the Mack blaze has contributed to a "national scandal" because of an "inertia" over its reinstatement.
GSA’s campus in Glasgow comprises 14 buildings, including the iconic Mack masterpiece, the 2013 award-winning Reid Building, designed by US architect Steven Holl, the refurbished Stow Building providing studio, technical support, workshop, and ancillary spaces for the School of Fine Art.
In an estates appraisal of 2005, both the Richmond and JD Kelly buildings were considered for a rebuild.
The Richmond Building, on the corner of Renfrew Street and Garnet Street was constructed using traditional techniques in around 1880 and has been home to the fine art photography department.
In 2012, GSA launched a campaign to build a £20m graduate and research centre on the site of the Richmond Building.
But the plan needed a £10m funding gap to be plugged through public donations and sponsorship.
If successful it would see what was then described as a ‘sub-standard building', swept away to make way for a 4,300sq/m new build facility for post-graduates and new research.
No plans were to be commissioned until 2013 at the earliest with the scheme projected to move on site by 2016.
An estates appraisal of 2005 said that the immediate impression of the Richmond Building was "one ofconsiderable dilapidation".
"The external facades are mostly filthy and interior spaces are rather gloomy," it said. "This property was never meant for its current use and the building is highly inflexible being composed of mostly small spaces with load-bearing crosswalls between them."
The JD Kelly Building, which has been home to the printmaking department, was connected to Richmond on two levels.
And the appraisal said it had "many of the unfortunate drawbacks of its neighbour".
It was constructed on the corner of Garnet Street and Hill Street in around 1898 as a hospital building.
The appraisals said the building is "somewhat dilapidated".
It is understood that both buildings were being considered for a sale as far back as 2016, after the first Mack fire.
It came at a time when GSA said it was to undergo a major expansion, buying the Stow College site and revamping the use of the Mack.
Glasgow School of Art fires: read the series in full here
It was then that it launched a £32m fundraising campaign, the Mackintosh Campus Appeal, to raise money to help the school recover from the impact of the 2014 fire, restoring the west wing of the Mackintosh Building, the purchase of the new building and development of studio and workshop space there.
The Hollywood actor Brad Pitt — a devotee of Rennie Mackintosh — and the former Dr Who actor Peter Capaldi agreed to be trustees of the scheme to raise cash for the building’s restoration.
The Mack was to return to its "original academic configuration", with first year students from all disciplines taught in the building.
The Herald has this week revealed concerns over 19 months of 'inertia' over the rebuild of the Mack that has been described as a "national scandal" which will add millions to its estimated £100m+ cost.
A June 2018 fire destroyed the iconic grade A-listed Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh building as it neared the end of multi-million pound restoration project following an earlier blaze in May 2014.
But attempts at the reinstatement of the masterpiece originally designed by renowned Scots architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh have stalled and serious questions raised about whether the restoration will ever happen.
A design team that was supposed to have been in place according to the GSA itinerary by August, 2022 - has still not happened.
A clear contrast has been made with the work done on the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was severely damaged by a blaze in 2019 and is scheduled to reopen at the end of this year.
One of the issues believed to have put a spanner in the works is the botched process for procuring architects to design the project.
The search to lead the project was canned in March, last year in advance of a reset that has never happened.
Prominent architects and painters have expressed despair at the lack of action and believe government should be stepping in to ensure that Scotland retains the the Charles Rennie Mackintosh legacy.
GSA said that it has been clear on its intent to dispose of property that is either "no longer fit for purpose or surplus to our requirements and long term plans" as identified in an Estates Strategy approved by the GSA in June 2022.
A spokesman confirmed that the properties were marketed for disposal last year.
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