Glasgow will flourish again, says Swinney, as he pledges fire rebuild support

Glasgow will flourish again, John Swinney has said, as he pledged his Government’s support to rebuild part of the city centre hit by a major blaze on Sunday.

Flames ripped through Forsyth House on Union Street on Sunday, resulting in the building’s collapse.

The adjoining Glasgow Central station was closed as a result, with no services from the high level platforms and low level trains not stopping.

The First Minister paid tribute to firefighters and other emergency services who attended the scene, saying 250 fire service personnel were present at the height of the blaze.

He said the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service had “scaled back” its response by Tuesday morning to four appliances and two high-reach vehicles, but stressed it “remains a live incident”.

Mr Swinney committed to support the rebuild of the area, telling MSPs in Holyrood: “Above all else, let me be clear today: the Scottish Government will stand with the city of Glasgow as it recovers from the fire.

“Given the significant cost the city faces, we will back those costs with cash.

“To get that work started, a ministerial oversight board has been established, chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice.

“We will rebuild, we will restore, and Glasgow will flourish again.”

The station remained closed on Tuesday, with no timeline for its reopening.

Speaking to the Press Association on Tuesday, Mr Swinney said: “It’s still a very live site, that is still under not just investigation, but under stabilisation adjacent to Glasgow Central.

“There’s a building adjacent to the Gordon Street entrance which is extremely vulnerable, so the reassurance I would give is that will be undertaken as quickly as we possibly can do, but I can’t give a definitive timescale on that.

“It would be the wrong thing to do to open the station prematurely without all the safety issues being guaranteed.”

Just a few hundred yards from the site of Sunday’s fire sits the Mackintosh building on Sauchiehall Street, which has been hit by two major fires in just over a decade, the latter also ripping through the nearby O2 ABC.

Asked if it will take as long on Union Street as it has for Sauchiehall Street to redevelop the site, the First Minister said it was “not all within my gift”, adding his ministers would “work constructively” with the council.

“It will be in everyone’s interest to move as quickly as possible to do so,” he said.

On Tuesday morning, firefighters continued to pour water on to the shell of the building, from which occasional billows of smoke still rose. Streets in the area remain cordoned off.

Praising the work of the emergency services, the First Minister said: “Although the site is devastating, we have avoided a much greater incident by the skill and professionalism of firefighters.”

He said he understands the “depth of sadness that is experienced in the city of Glasgow about what has happened”, describing the site of the blaze as “iconic”.

With “many small businesses” having been housed there, he said the Government will “put in place support to assist them at this difficult time”, working with the council.

Asked about the need for greater regulation of vape shops, Mr Swinney stressed there will be a “full investigation” into the cause of the blaze, though he said footage from the weekend “appears to show the fire started within a vape shop”.

He added: “It’s important we allow the investigation to be carried out to establish the facts about this issue and identify the lessons that have got to be learned.

“I do also understand the public concern about the issue of the safety of vape shops.

“I am open to the need for further regulation and legislation to ensure the safety of people and buildings, especially when it comes to the storage and disposal of combustible products.”