Glasgow School of Art's Mackintosh Building has entered the next phase of condition assessment after a blaze engulfed the building earlier this month.

A major blaze started in the building at around 11.15pm on Friday, 15 June, spreading to nearby buildings and causing extensive damage. The building had been undergoing restoration works following a fire in 2014.

Engineers from Reigart Demolition and Glasgow City Council are beginning the second phase of assessment works today, 27 June.

The inspection is expected to take place from a basket suspended from a crane due to safety concerns. This follows the results of earlier stages of investigation which were announced last week, and which identified substantial movement in the East and West gables of the building and a stairwell on the South elevation.

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The close-in visual inspection is expected to take at least three days.

The results will then be combined with the results of drone inspections and remote laser surveys to design a methodology for the removal of the unsafe parts of the building.

It is expected to take at least another week until estimates can be made on when it will be safe to enter the cordon and for people to access their homes and businesses.

Speaking in advance of the work, Cllr Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council said: "It is positive news that we are able to get a clearer idea of what we will need to do to make this site safe. The need to protect public safety has meant that it has been impossible to let people into their homes and businesses.

"I understand that this is incredibly frustrating for people and we want to give them access as soon as we can.

"However we need to be realistic about how long this might take. It is likely to take at least a week for us to fully understand what has happened to the building and formulate a detailed plan to make it safe. This means that the very earliest we might be able to give indicative timescales is the beginning to the middle of next week and at this stage even that is not guaranteed."

(CM/MH)