Glasgow School of Art: Mackintosh Building

Debate between David Mundell and Torcuil Crichton

Monday 19th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Torcuil Crichton]

I do. There is a need for greater transparency, and there are great lessons to be learned from the recent management of the estate and the building.

The Glasgow School of Art has committed to restoring the building. In July this year, eight years after the second fire and following extended and painful arbitration with the insurers, the GSA published a report outlining that the cost of restoring the Mack is estimated to be £265 million at today’s prices. That is a simply insurmountable sum for Glasgow School of Art alone. It is more than five times its annual turnover. That is why I am making this speech this evening.

[David Mundell (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale) (Con)]

I very much commend the hon. Gentleman for bringing this issue forward, because Glasgow School of Art is a national institution and Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a national figure across the United Kingdom. That is why, when I was in the Scotland Office, I argued that the UK Government should intervene after the first fire, which they did. I had the opportunity to see some of the renovations that took place after 2014, which were so tragically lost in the fire of 2018. I absolutely agree with the hon. Gentleman that, given the national significance of the Glasgow School of Art, the UK Government have a role to play in its renovation.

[Torcuil Crichton]

I am glad to have the right hon. Member here bringing not just his experience, but cross-party support. I appreciate what he did and what previous Governments did after the first fire. There are hundreds of competing pressures on politics and on our political and financial capital, but he is right that it is a building of national importance. It was also a very beautiful building.