Damage caused by the fire at Glasgow School of Art's Charles Rennie Mackintosh building. Photograph: Scottish fire and rescue service/PA  Specialist archivists from the Glasgow School of Art have begun the operation to conserve items damaged by the fire that ripped through the Charles Rennie Mackintosh building in the city centre on Friday.  The salvage effort will also retrieve the work of students who were preparing for their final-year degree show in the building at the time of the fire, which is believed to have started in the basement.  Professor Tom Inns, director of the school, said: "The first priority is to retrieve any of our archive and collections in need of immediate conservation, followed by the student work which will, where necessary, be given over to experts for conservation work to be undertaken."  Over the weekend, Muriel Gray, chair of the school's board of governors, revealed how firefighters succeeded in protecting the vast majority of the building's infrastructure by forming a human wall up the main staircase and containing the fire.  Gray said: "After ensuring no lives were in peril, they displayed an impressive understanding of the precious nature of the building, and due to their careful and meticulous handling of each developing situation the damage is considerably less than we dreaded.  "We have run out of words with which to thank them, but the school has most certainly gained a new gallery of heroes."  Following an inspection of the site on Saturday, it was confirmed that the wing built between 1897 and 1899, including the Mackintosh museum and the furniture gallery, has survived intact. The school's archives have also been saved.  The main damage was sustained by the west wing, built between 1907 and 1909, with the unique Mackintosh library and studio above it destroyed. The library housed rare and archival materials, including periodicals from the early 19th century and publications about Mackintosh.  With access to the site still limited, the fate of the Hen Run, the glazed corridor that runs across the roof of the building, is still uncertain, but the indications are that the structure is intact while the glass has been lost.  Students have been offered counselling, and academic staff are putting in place provision for them to complete their courses.  The school said it had been overwhelmed with offers of practical support from conservators, curators and specialists around the world, as well as offers of financial assistance. It has set up a web page for online donations.  The school site remains under the control of the Scottish fire and rescue service, and the campus will be closed until Friday to allow the damaged building to be cleared and vulnerable materials stored elsewhere. Staff are also looking for new studio space for the students, and will need to rehouse other departments that were based in the Mackintosh building, as the lengthy process of restoring one of Scotland's most precious buildings begins.
Specialists to focus on retrieving and conserving items from the school's archive and collections, followed by students' work