Student’s degree work cited as source of Glasgow School of Art fire
A student’s degree project has been identified as the source of a devastating fire which swept through the Glasgow School of Art by forensic investigators following a painstaking trawl through debris.
The Scottish Fire & Rescue Service report singled out an installation of foam panels affixed to the walls of a basement studio which caught light when propellant contained within a can of expanding foam was sucked into a neighbouring projector and caught fire.
GSA director professor Tom Inns said: “The fire was an accident and, like any accident, it’s caused by many different factors coming together and conspiring against us on the day,” he said. “There are a huge number of lessons that can be learned and we’ve been working very hard over the last six months on our health and safety procedures, training and so on. We’ve been doing many different things over the summer to learn from the experience.”
Last May’s conflagration led to the loss of many timber features from the A-listed building; notably the priceless library.