Glasgow School of Art: Mackintosh Building

Debate between Douglas Lumsden and Torcuil Crichton

Monday 19th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Torcuil Crichton]

I could not agree more. We must remember that the art school itself began as a design school—almost an engineering school for the shipyards and the industrial base of Scotland. There is a plan to make the art school, with a restored Mackintosh building, the anchor of cultural and economic development again.

What my right hon. Friend the Member for Oxford East says is true: the Glasgow School of Art and the Mackintosh building have become a symbol of Glasgow, and Glasgow has a symbiotic relationship with the art school. That is why it is tragic to see it in its current condition. As the right hon. Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (David Mundell) pointed out, the Mack is not simply a national treasure for Scotland; it is a cultural and creative asset for the whole of the UK. It is an emblem of what Scotland has contributed to the global story of design and success over the last century.

It should not just be left to Glasgow School of Art, to Scotland or to the alumni of the art school to take this on. Collectively, we are all custodians of the Mackintosh. It should fall on us as a nation to restore the building to its glory. The Government should be willing and ready to engage with Glasgow School of Art in the project. Let us be clear: this can be done. We need only look across the channel to the example of Notre-Dame, which was burnt down in a fire in 2019. The French Government stepped in with the full muscle of the state to implement a reconstruction programme.

[Douglas Lumsden (Aberdeen South) (Con)]

Would the hon. Member agree that the SNP Government need to play a role in this? So far, they have been silent on the subject.

[Torcuil Crichton]

I would temper my language and invite the Scottish Government, the UK Government and other interested parties to come together, put their hands under the Mack and lift it out of the ashes. There is a case for doing that, as a fully restored Mack, in line with the Glasgow School of Art’s ambitions to deliver a re-energised cultural quarter for Glasgow, can be just as much an economic driver for the city and the country as Notre-Dame is for France.