In a devastating revelation following one of Hong Kong's deadliest fires, homeowners at the Wang Fuk Court complex were given false assurances about the safety record of the contractor now at the centre of the tragedy. Documents show the architectural firm hired to assess bids wrongly stated that Prestige Construction & Engineering had a clean slate with the Labour Department.
A Fatal Misrepresentation
Will Power Architects, tasked with evaluating renovation bids for the ageing Tai Po housing estate, assured residents that Prestige Construction & Engineering had no history of prosecutions by the Labour Department. This critical endorsement helped Prestige secure the massive HK$330 million renovation contract after receiving one of the highest grades from the assessor.
However, official labour department records tell a starkly different story. The documents reveal that Prestige was penalised more than a dozen times between 2016 and 2019 for serious safety lapses, including unsafe scaffolding and faulty electrical work. This history of violations was apparently overlooked or misrepresented during the contractor selection process.
The Catastrophic Blaze and Mounting Concerns
The fire that broke out on 26 November at Wang Fuk Court has claimed at least 159 lives, leading to manslaughter and corruption investigations against both Prestige Construction and Will Power Architects. Authorities have identified the use of substandard safety mesh on scaffolding and highly flammable foam boards around windows as key factors in the rapid spread of the blaze.
Ironically, the labour department had earlier certified the mesh as safe. The Wang Fuk Court complex, built in the 1980s, houses around 2,000 small flats, primarily occupied by senior citizens and blue-collar families. Concerns about the renovation work emerged early. Records indicate Prestige had previously been fined HK$309,000 for 15 safety violations, with additional penalties from the buildings department in older cases.
Residents' Fears and Frantic Efforts
As costs escalated and safety worries intensified, residents attempted to have Prestige removed from the project. This led to a tense meeting in September 2024 where a new homeowners' board was elected. Many residents, including some who were construction workers, took it upon themselves to monitor the site. In a desperate preventive measure, one homeowner removed the flammable foam boards from his windows, but later lamented to Reuters that his individual efforts could not prevent the scale of the disaster that unfolded.
The tragedy underscores a catastrophic failure in oversight and transparency, where vulnerable residents were denied critical information about a contractor's dangerous track record, with fatal consequences. The dual investigations will now seek to determine the full extent of negligence and misconduct that led to this profound loss of life.
