A maintenance project at the fire-hit Wang Fuk Court should have been classified as high risk, but was instead categorised as minor works requiring no regular inspections, a government surveyor has told a public inquiry. A man walks past Wang Fuk Court on December 3, 2025. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Nick Yung, a senior maintenance surveyor at the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit (ICU), gave his testimony before an independent committee investigating the massive blaze at the Tai Po housing estate on Thursday. He was the second ICU official questioned by Victor Dawes, lead counsel for the committee, after senior maintenance surveyor Andy Ku on Wednesday .
Yung said that the maintenance project on the outer walls of all eight buildings at Wang Fuk Court was classified as low risk for the convenience of homeowners, which created a “loophole” in safety regulation, local media reported .
The surveyor said the renovation project should have been considered high risk, as it involved work on the entire outer wall of each building. However, because it was classified as minor works, it did not warrant regular inspections.
The ICU only conducts inspections when complaints are received, Yung added.
Extensive repairs on the exterior of the Tai Po estate were under way when the fire broke out in late November, ripping through seven of its eight buildings. The blaze, which killed 168 people and displaced thousands of residents, was the city’s deadliest fire since 1948.
Combustible wooden boards
During previous hearings, the committee heard that the removal and replacement of fireproof stairwell windows and fire escape doors with combustible wooden boards may have breached fire safety rules and allowed smoke to enter and spread rapidly in the building.
But Yung told the inquiry on Thursday that he had mistaken the wooden boards for a protective measure to cover damaged windows.
That prompted Dawes to point out that windows on every fifth floor were replaced and asked why Yung did not find it suspicious that so many windows had been damaged. Foam boards used to seal windows are visible in a Wang Fuk Court building in Tai Po after the deadly fire. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. The surveyor replied that not all the windows had been removed.
Yung said that the ICU relied on the contractors to self-regulate and admitted that the unit’s review mechanism was “very problematic.”
Dawes said, “If even professionals fail to detect these safety issues, how can you expect residents to notice that there are problems? How could an ordinary person know that this is such a serious issue?”
Yung said the openings were not clear in photos but admitted they would have been visible if seen directly on site. Dawes responded: “Exactly, but you didn’t go down there yourselves.”
The surveyor also told the committee that it was only in January – more than a month after the fire – that the ICU was notified by the Buildings Department of “a new policy,” which came into effect in 2023, requiring random inspections of 20 per cent of minor works. The ICU would have followed up if it had been aware of the arrangement, Yung said.
“It feels to us as though you are shirking responsibility,” said Judge David Lok, who chairs the committee. Yung denied Lok’s contention, saying he only meant that the ICU would have had the opportunity to conduct inspections if it had been aware of the new policy.