I asked the First Minister for an assurance that conservation-accredited registered engineers with the right expertise would be brought in to assess the remaining elevation to Gordon Street for any possibility of its preservation or careful dismantling for future reinstatement. I also contacted Glasgow City Council’s Head of Building Control on Monday to introduce a conservation-accredited engineer and architect who have offered their support to assess the remaining structure, but we have yet to receive any response. It is therefore disappointing that Glasgow City Council, who have no in-house conservation-accredited engineers, have condemned this listed building to a full demolition within a matter of hours of the site being handed over, without first undertaking this prudent step, which has been the subject of a long-running campaign for reform in the Scottish Parliament. Like at the Ayr Station Hotel, elements of this iconic listed building which could be preserved may now be destroyed unnecessarily. I hope that Glasgow City Council will at least laser scan the surviving elevation to enable a faithful reinstatement and undertake a careful hand demolition process that can 'flat pack' as much of the surviving structure as possible if a retaining scaffolding cannot be erected to all or part of the façade.

The French effort to restore Notre-Dame de Paris in 5 years was heroic. More than 7 years after the 2018 fire, Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art remains a shell. Restoration is still a distant prospect. Today, I asked @AngusRobertson to make its restoration a national project. – at Edinburgh, Scotland