A public inquiry committee’s lawyer has said that the government had an “unshirkable responsibility” over last year’s deadly Tai Po fire as he delivered closing statements at an investigation into the blaze and its rapid spread.
Wang Fuk Court on May 4, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Senior counsel Victor Dawes, representing the independent committee, delivered his closing remarks at the City Gallery on Friday. His 627-page closing address was made publicly available on the committee’s website.
The address begins: “The fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on 26 November 2025 was one of the gravest tragedies to have ever occurred in Hong Kong.”
“Even today, seven months later, the scale of the disaster – the loss of 168 lives, and the abrupt destruction of a neighbourhood which thousands called home, where they built families and created memories – remains difficult to comprehend.”
Diagrams illustrating the damage to Wang Cheong and Wang Tai House. Photo: Wang Fuk Court independent committee.
The Wang Fuk Court fire broke out on November 26 last year while the estate was undergoing renovation works. The blaze tore through seven of the eight buildings at the government-run estate, killing 168 people – including one firefighter – and displacing thousands of residents.
Dawes on Friday said that the companies overseeing the renovation work at the estate employed unscrupulous means that went unnoticed by the government’s regulatory regime.
Will Power Architects, the consultancy overseeing the HK$330 million renovation at Wang Fuk Court, and Prestige Construction & Engineering, the main contractor, should be “completely condemned” for their actions that led to the fire, Dawes said.
Hong Kong lawyer Victor Dawes on July 15, 2026. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
“I emphasise that this was caused by continuous fraud, bad materials, false certificates, and blatant lying,” Dawes said, adding that the government’s honour system was not designed to tackle deliberate deception. “We need a systematic review to identify flaws exposed by the fire.”
Dawes said that Wang Fuk Court was largely enveloped by non-fire-retardant nets on the day of the fire.
He asked the committee to consider that Prestige and another company, Gain Profit, were primarily responsible for the procurement and use of cheaper non-retardant nets to replace ones damaged by typhoons, while Will Power was responsible for failing to supervise Prestige.
A worker smoking on the roof of Wang Cheong House, the first building to catch fire at Wang Fuk Court, on the day of the fire, dated November 26, 2025. Photo: CCTV footage via Wang Fuk Court independent committee.
Prestige also installed flammable foam boards over windows at the estate and falsely assured the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit (ICU) that they would only be used on three floors at a time to protect windows from debris.
A registered inspector for Will Power and a fire service installation contractor called China Status “acted as mere rubber stamps, signing paperwork when required of them,” Dawes added.
Responsibility
Thanking government witnesses for their cooperation and “frank admissions of shortcomings,” Dawes said that the government – in particular the ICU, Fire Services Department, Buildings Department, and Labour Department – still bore a share of the responsibility for the fire.
His remark drew murmurs of laughter from the public gallery. Some Wang Fuk Court residents on Thursday seemed unconvinced by the government’s submission that it had been “lied” to.
David Lok, Chan Kin-por, and Rex Yeung of the independent committee leave the hearing on July 17, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
“The government had an unshirkable responsibility to perform its regulatory role and protect the lives of residents,” Dawes said on Friday. “We are not suggesting that the government should bear the ultimate responsibility, but it’s only reasonable that the public expects them to perform… [I]t seems there was a major shortfall.”
The government operated on an honour system depending on the contractors’ self-regulation, “effectively leaving them without oversight,” he said. “In uncritically relying on the good faith of those it regulated, the bodies charged with regulation left obvious fire hazards uninvestigated and unaddressed.”
He went over evidence including the ICU’s advance inspection notices which allowed Prestige to prepare for the checks.
The ICU also failed to notice that fireproof windows had been removed from the emergency stairwell to create openings for the contractors. In overlooking the irregularity, it did not realise on-site spot checks should have been conducted, Dawes said.
Rubbish and construction materials accumulated on scaffolding at Wang Fuk Court. Photo: Wang Fuk Court independent committee.
Giving recommendations on combatting collusive tendering, Dawes proposed strengthening and widening the scope of the Urban Renewal Authority’s Smart Tender Scheme. He also suggested making it compulsory to disclose companies’ litigation records and called for reforms to proxy voting rules.
Tributes
Closing out his submission, Dawes thanked the residents of Wang Fuk Court for their assistance in the hearings and paid tribute to the 168 people who died in the fire.
Closing Submissions of Counsel for the Independent Committee by HKFP
“The lessons of this tragedy will be painful, but it is only through confronting them that we can make our home a safer place,” he said. “We express once again our gratitude to the residents who came before the Committee to give evidence – some while grieving, others blaming themselves for failings that were never theirs.”
“In keeping with the practice of previous judge-led inquiries following major tragedies in Hong Kong, it is right that a full list of the deceased should form part of the Committee’s formal records. We honour their memory,” Dawes said. The document contained a full list of the deceased .
Wang Fuk Court seen in the distance on April 20, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Judge David Lok, who chairs the probe, spoke after a five-minute adjournment. He said that the committee would continue to process evidence from the hearings and upload testimonies and relevant documents to its website, provided they do not interfere with ongoing criminal investigations.
“This is how we do justice to those who perished in the fire. Once again, we thank everyone for participating in the hearing,” Lok said, bringing the hearings to a close.