SCOTTISH First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has visited the site of the blaze that ripped through the Glasgow School of Art's renowned Mackintosh building and damaged the O2 ABC.
The fire has been largely contained after causing "extensive" damage to the historic building, the fire service said.
Sturgeon went to the scene of the fire to thank the emergency services for their work, and to offer support for staff and students.
She said: "It's heartbreaking.
"The fire as I think everybody could see from the pictures last night has been a devastating blaze, much, much worse than the one that took hold of the Mackintosh building four years ago so the damage is severe and extensive.
"It's actually quite hard to find the words, given what happened four years ago, the fact that it was so close to being reopened after the restoration that this has happened.
"My heart goes out to everybody associated with the art school but and I think this is an important point there was no loss of life last night, nobody was injured, sometimes I think we take that a bit too much for granted and that's down to the speed of response and skill of the firefighters that we're not mourning loss of life today."
Asked if the building had a future, she added: "I've spoken to the principal of the art school already and the Scottish Government stands ready to do anything we reasonably can to help ensure that the building has a future.
"It's too early to say what that might entail or what that might look like. We don't know yet what the structural condition of the building is. It's simply too early to give definitive answers but I'm determined as we were after the fire four years ago that the Scottish Government will do everything it possibly can."
The First Minister spoke to firefighters at the scene
Around 50 firefighters are still working to extinguish the fire, which broke out at around 11.20pm on Friday and spread to the nearby O2 ABC.
It is just four years since the Charles Rennie Mackintosh building was badly damaged in another blaze.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said the building had been "extensively damaged" including multimillion-pound restoration work carried out in the aftermath of the previous fire. No one has been reported injured.
SFRS area manager David Young said: "The fire has now largely been contained, but this remains a protracted incident and our efforts very much continue at this stage to extinguish the fire and ensure the community is protected.
"There will be disruption around Dalhousie Street, Sauchiehall Street and Renfrew Street and I would advise the public to avoid these areas at this present time.
"I would like to thank our firefighters on the ground and our operations control firefighters for working effectively with our partners throughout the night and into today."
Bob McCaffrey, 42, a graduate, former tour guide and now visiting lecturer in product design at the art school, said: "It has been a big loss to the city.
"After four years ago everybody in Glasgow has been doing that thing they do of coming together, everyone's been pulling together and it feels that just as this positivity was coming out of what was tragic four years ago, now it's such a body blow.
"I used to be a tour guide in the building and I'm just walking around inside mentally thinking about how much people got from it.
"It wasn't just impressive and spectacular, it was designed especially to inspire the students.
"That's what pains me, it's not just a beautiful building, which it is, but a lot of people got a lot of joy and inspiration from it."
Alan Dunlop, professor of architecture at the art school, said he was "devastated".
He said: "It's horrible. The building does look as though from the inside it's been totally gutted. All that seems to remain is the stone walls on the outside.
"The deeply sad thing is that yesterday was graduation day. So the students will have felt elated and very happy, and then to wake up the next morning they will be very sad indeed."
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