DEMOLITION work on the fire hit buildings along Sauchiehall Street should begin on Thursday.

At a meeting on Wednesday afternoon, Glasgow City Council confirmed cranes are due to arrive on site tomorrow morning to begin taking apart the dangerous buildings.

The site is still being guarded 24 hours a day following the blaze that devastated part of the busy shopping street on March 22.

As told previously in the Evening Times, the demolition is taking place sooner than expected after council bosses stepped in.

A contractor was appointed last week by officials.

Usually owners would agree on a contractor during talks with insurers but the fact there are multiple owners and that the situation is urgent led the council to take control.

Owners will still be responsible for the cost, which is believed will run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Contractors are still gathering information about the site but the crane arrivals have been confirmed for Thursday morning, meaning demolition is likely to begin that day too.

By last Friday a 54 metre high boom was in place to allow for a survey of the condition of the buildings.

There is also a round-the-clock presence of security staff, demolition contractors, City Property officers and utility providers on the site.

The take down of the building will see the end of a historic site.

Once known as the Salon, 90 Sauchiehall Street was built as a cinema and opened in June 1913.

One of Glasgow's earliest and most historic cinemas, it originally included a Winter Garden and Tea Lounge.

Despite changing hands over the years - becoming a casino and a various nightclubs - the building had retained unusual and historic features from 100 years ago, which will now be lost.

Its peaked roof of the original auditorium had still been visible to anyone who looked up along the Sauchiehall Street skyline.

The building had changed vastly in the past 105 years, but inside there were still original features such as an impressive Moorish archway and glass front.

Fire bosses have said it is unlikely that the cause of the blaze will ever be known.

At its peak there were more than 120 fire fighters on site.