GLASGOW School of Art should be “relieved” of the responsibility of the fire-ravaged building, a leading expert on Mackintosh has suggested.

Gallerist Roger Billcliffe said that by the time the building is rebuilt – which GSA chair Muriel Gray said could take up to six years – it will not have been used as a place of teaching for more than a dozen years.

Mr Billcliffe believes that the building should be treated as a “world class work of art” and could be used as artist accommodation and for exhibitions.

The gallerist says that the GSA is “unfit” to be a custodian of the building, due to the consequences of the first fire.

He said: “Temporary accommodation put in force after the 2014 fire will likely have had to be replaced by more permanent arrangements.

“This seems to be a suitable time to consider relieving the School of its responsibility for the Mackintosh building – something it is believed to have considered in the 1990s when it offered the building to a government agency.

“This would remove from the School the apparent burden of running a major ‘museum’ and also satisfy the growing demand for access, particularly after the injection of £30 million of public, private and charitable donations to restore the building following the 2014 fire.”

A spokesman for the GSA said: “The GSA is fully committed to it returning as a working art school.”