In case of Emergency: What do the 2014 and 2018 fires in the Mackintosh Building tell us about how we manage our built heritage?

Since 2014, the Glasgow School of Art’s Mackintosh Building has suffered two fires; the first affected the West Side of the Building, destroying the Library, and the second fire in 2018 gutted the Building, transforming it into a roofless consolidated ruin shrouded in scaffolding. These fires are examples of calamities that could befall any of our traditional or historic buildings. Despite the shock of this happening twice, they were not exceptional events, and are indicative of a much wider problem: the way we currently manage our built heritage. Through studying the cause of the 2014 fire, the decision to restore, the fire of 2018 during that restoration, and the subsequent salvage operation, this thesis discusses the story of the Mackintosh Building as a cautionary tale. From this analysis, we can learn crucial lessons from these events about; not only how to best manage and maintain our built heritage, but also how to prepare for future disasters and emergencies