Tai Po fire: building authorities slammed at inquiry for ‘mechanical mindset’

The “mechanical mindset” of Hong Kong building authorities has come under scrutiny at a hearing into the deadly Wang Fuk Court blaze, with a former inspection director conceding his team had “blindly” followed outdated guidelines when deciding not to conduct on-site audits of renovation work at the estate.

Rudolf Lau Fu-kwok, who was the head of the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit when the fire broke out last November, on Friday told an independent committee tasked with investigating the blaze the old supervision mechanism relied solely on engineering firms to regulate themselves and residents reporting any alleged malpractice to authorities.

He acknowledged that the process had created a “blind spot” in government supervision in cases where residents were unaware of the dangers posed by a particular practice, such as the lack of complaints arising from illegal alterations to the estate’s emergency staircases during a HK$336 million (US$42.9 million) renovation project.

But Lau denied the allegation that the unit did not properly discharge its duties when overseeing construction works at subsidised housing estates, saying it had focused resources on monitoring high-risk procedures during major construction works but had overlooked other minor projects.

“The unit exercises its powers as delegated by the Buildings Department … It has always strived to exercise supervision in accordance with the department’s standards,” he said.

The fire at the Tai Po housing estate started on November 26 last year as the estate was undergoing repairs required under the mandatory building inspection scheme, spreading to seven of eight blocks and raging for about 43 hours.