Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Art school spends £16m transforming college but leaves asbestos in place

© Andrew Milligan/PA WireThe art school lies devastated after the second blaze.
The art school lies devastated after the second blaze.

Glasgow School of Art has been criticised for failing to remove potentially lethal asbestos from a building it has spent millions buying and refurbishing.

The 1930s former Stow College building, which has undergone a £16 million refit, has notes taped to walls warning students not to drill or put nails into the walls.

According to papers seen by The Sunday Post, the art school ruled out footing the £1.5m bill to remove galbestos – steel sheeting covered with bitumen-coated asbestos – from the top floor of the building.

Glasgow School of Art considered suing the building’s former owners for not detailing the asbestos in a survey. The 1930s Stow building was bought from Glasgow Kelvin College for £6m in August 2016 to create studio space for students.

A further £16m was spent on refurbishing the building, using money from the Mackintosh Campus Appeal.

A fundraising drive to restore the world-renowned Charles Rennie Mackintosh building after the first fire was launched in 2014, despite the damage being covered by insurance.

Two years later, the fundraising drive was rebranded the Mackintosh Campus Appeal, which included the purchase and conversion of the Stow building.

A senior member of staff said: “You might think due diligence before buying the college would include an asbestos survey. This was not done and it was later discovered that the Stow building interior was riddled with the stuff, and much of the exterior was clad in it.

“What was worse was that the external cladding on the top floor and inside the light wells that penetrate right down through the building are clad in galbestos, a metal profile coated with layers of asphalt and asbestos.

The source said galbestos is flammable and responsible for a fire in the Summerland disaster in the Isle of Man in 1973 when 50 people died.

He said: “After Grenfell, a decision was made to install sprinklers in Stow. We are told that the asbestos walls in the interior have been made safe by coating them with plasterboard and the addition of signs, and the fire risk is managed by the sprinklers. However, the sprinklers point down, and not at the flammable cladding.”

According to board papers, the art school consulted lawyers about asbestos not being detailed in Kelvin College’s management survey.

But the legal advice was they “were offered the opportunity to investigate pre-sale and the onus would be on the buyer to carry out due diligence before entering into a transaction”.

The art school was also warned that “if full litigation is required then the costs could be extremely expensive and could outweigh any benefit that could be gained”.

A fire strategy report said the safety measures taken were “reasonably practicable” and that the “cost, effort and other disadvantages associated with removal/replacement of the cladding would be disproportionate to the risk to life”.

The information is blocked out on the art school’s website but an unredacted version of the board papers has been seen by The Sunday Post.

The Glasgow School of Art said: “Stow College like many hundreds of thousands of buildings constructed in the UK last century involved the use of asbestos in its construction. Most still carry this material in their infrastructure.

“As you would expect, the GSA carried out a full asbestos survey which confirmed areas of known and revealed some previously unidentified areas of asbestos. The GSA informed Glasgow Kelvin College about the latter.

“Encapsulated asbestos when undisturbed and in good condition can remain in place safely if checked regularly as part of a building management programme, which is exactly what is happening in Stow.”