Malcolm Fraser argues GSA did not care for the "jewel at the heart of themselves".

Mr Fraser says we need to look at where things went wrong.

He wants to hear about the detail of the investigation and says it must look at the adequacy of the risk assessments carried out.

Committee convener Joan McAlpine asks why a temporary sprinkler system was not in place.

Mr Fraser hopes there will be talk of that and whether it was feasible.

Image source, bbc

Eileen Reid, formerly of Glasgow School of Art, says it seems nothing much was done at all.

Ms Reid explains the culture in the building was one of managed risk, which was logical fallacy.

She says she thinks they approached risk in a way that was looser than it should have been.

The failure was systemic, concludes Ms Reid.

Labour MSP Claire Baker asks about the insurance payout and additional fundraising.

Malcolm Fraser says the two fires were covered by different insurance, as in 2014 the building was in use while work was still being carried out on it in 2016.

The insurance money was to be used to put the building back to how it was, he adds.

After the original fire, the GSA raised money for betterment of the building he explains.

Architect Malcolm Fraser insists we need to wait until the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service report comes out following the latest fire.

We need to take more care of all historic buildings throughout Scotland, he adds.

The second fire cause seemed to be a failure of statutory oversight, Mr Fraser says.

Asked about the material used in the building, the architect says it was legal but was the same used in Grenfell, adding: "I am distressed it was used in Mackintosh."

Do we know for sure it was used, asks the convener.

All reports from the site suggest it did, Mr Fraser confirms.

I don't believe the material is flammable so was not a contributory factor, but I would want an investigation to confirm that, he states.

Ms Reid confirms that it was well know the building was at risk.

"We used to talk about how many minutes we would have to get out."

Our main protection was the fire alarm and smoke alarm, she says.

Ms Reid adds that if you were at the top of the building when the fire alarm went off, you moved.

Of course I'm concerned with the iconic building but it was a threat to life too, she states.

Image source, Police Scotland

Glasgow's Mackintosh building will definitely be rebuilt, according to Muriel Gray, chairwoman of the Glasgow School of Art's board.

The building was gutted by fire in June, following another blaze in 2014.

The future of the GSA has faced speculation that it could be demolished or turned into a museum.

But Ms Gray, a former student at the school, told BBC Scotland it would be rebuilt as a working art school, saying that was "non-negotiable".

Read more here.

Eileen Reid, a former staff member as the art school, says that following the 2014 fire a senior member of staff was tasked to investigate the fire with the chief fire officer.

There were rumours that a report has been suppressed she tells the committee, but she states this was not true.

Ms Reid explains there were multiple failures of health and safety, and a list of concerns were handed to the director at the time - not a report.

There should have been an immediate investigation in 2014 into how we ended up in a situation where the risk was not calculated properly, she suggests.

Image source, bbc

Roger Billcliffe, a Charles Rennie Mackintosh scholar, argues we don't know if any lessons have been learned from the first fire.

The school has refused to comment on the first fire, other than to say it was started by a spark from a student using a banned substance at the school and was an accident.

He points out the fire rapidly went up to the top floor, despite £8.5m supposedly making the building fit for the 21st century, which it certainly was not.

However by not protecting the vents the building was a "fire trap waiting to happen".

The luckiest thing that happened is that nobody died, he argues.

"Whether lessons have been learned, nobody knows."

Convener Joan McAlpine says we are here today because Scotland has lost a masterpiece.

After the 2014 fire there was a determination to move on and rebuild, she states, noting that after the recent fire many will want to know how it could have happened again.

Were lessons learned from the first fire and was there a systemic failure of risk assessment, she asks.

Image source, bbc

The committee is hearing from:

• Eileen Reid, formerly of Glasgow School of Art
• Malcolm Fraser, an architect
• Roger Billcliffe, a Charles Rennie Mackintosh scholar
• Stuart Robertson from the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society

Read the meeting papers here., external

Five written submissions have also been received., external

Image source, Getty Images

The culture committee will begin shortly and it is taking evidence on the Glasgow School of Art.

Ahead of the session, convener Joan McAlpine said: "While we cannot speculate on the immediate causes of this fire, we expect the panel to discuss how we got to this point, whether lessons were learned from the past and how to go forward in future."

Read the meeting papers here. , external

Five written submissions have also been received. , external

Image source, bPA/ Scottish Parliament

Good morning and welcome to Holyrood Live on Thursday 20 September 2018.

This morning we are joining the culture committee as it discusses Glasgow School of Art.

After general questions, Nicola Sturgeon faces her weekly grilling from opposition party leaders and back bench MSPs. Join us.

Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur will lead a member’s debate entitled ‘Scotland's Marine Energy Industry has Potential to Grow’.

Resuming at 2:30pm, there will be a ministerial statement on NHS Tayside's board.

The rest of the afternoon will be given over to debate on the progress on violence reduction in Scotland.