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A Housing Bureau inspection unit disclosed advanced details of safety checks to the consultant in charge of renovation at Wang Fuk Court, weeks before a fatal fire burned down the housing estate, a public inquiry has heard.
Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on December 10, 2025. Photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP.The independent committee tasked with investigating the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire heard on Thursday that the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit (ICU) – the body that oversees government-subsidised housing in Hong Kong – had told Will Powers Architects about upcoming inspections at the housing estate, which had been undergoing major renovation since 2024.
Will Powers Architects, the consultant firm overseeing the renovation, then allegedly alerted Prestige Construction, the main contractor.
Executives from both firms were arrested on suspicion of corruption and manslaughter following the blaze that broke out on November 26. Authorities previously said they found non-fire-retardant netting at the Tai Po residential estate, which could have contributed to the rapid spread of the blaze.
Senior Counsel Victor Dawes, lead lawyer for the committee, called the ICU’s advance notices “deeply concerning.”
‘Check which parts are OK’
WhatsApp records showed that on October 27, ICU maintenance surveyor Amanda Lau texted a Will Power employee surnamed Yeung, Dawes said.
Lau told Yeung the ICU wanted to arrange an inspection the following day after Wang Fuk Court residents expressed concern about possible damage to the construction netting caused by Super Typhoon Ragasa in September.
That evening, a message was sent to a WhatsApp group chat of Prestige Construction executives. The message, written in Chinese, said: “(Not public) ICU expected to inspect construction site tomorrow afternoon. Fire test of netting likely. Check which parts are OK.”
Before this, Lau had also informed Will Power about upcoming inspections, Dawes said, citing WhatsApp records dating back to 2024.
Dawes also told the committee that, in July, executives of Prestige instructed a sub-contractor, Gain Profit Shed Industry Ltd, to purchase non-fire-retardant netting after Typhoon Wipha – a T10 storm – brought widespread damage to the city.
However, on October 27, Gain Profit Shed Industry purchased fire-retardant netting, receipts showed.
While the ICU did not find problematic netting during its inspections, Dawes said, the contractors “certainly had the chance” to remove irregular parts given the advance notice.
Suspected fake certificates
The lawyer also raised questions about the rigour of the ICU’s inspections.
Senior Counsel Victor Dawes. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.A video from a 2024 inspection showed the ICU’s surveyors performing a fire test on a netting sample at Wang Fuk Court. The piece was lit after being burned for roughly 15 seconds, and it burned for another 10 seconds.
However, based on the fire-retardancy certificate provided by Prestige, the netting should not burn for more than four seconds once the flames are removed, Dawes said.
The ICU appeared to have “no objective measurement” for fire retardancy and had ignored the apparent failure of its fire test, he added.
Meanwhile, the authenticity of the fire-retardancy certificate was also questionable, Dawes said. In December, HK01 first reported that the certificate provided by Prestige was fake, citing a Beijing testing agency that purportedly issued the document.
The testing agency told the news outlet that it changed its name in 2019, and therefore, certificates issued after that year carrying the institute’s old name were “100 per cent” fake.
Dawes said on Thursday that police also found, on a computer at Prestige’s office, a certificate that left the recipient’s name blank, raising doubt about its authenticity.
Meanwhile, the Labour Department failed to notice that Prestige reused an old certificate from 2024 for netting installed after the typhoons last year, he said.
In a written statement to the committee, a Labour Department officer said they did not realise it was an old certificate because they focused on the purported fire retardant quality, Dawes said.
After the blaze broke out, the wife of a Gain Profit Shed Industry executive sent her husband two voice messages, which were played at Thursday’s hearing.
The woman said in Cantonese: “Call me immediately. Wang Fuk Court caught fire,” and “You need to fix a story, because the netting we sent was non-fire-retardant.”
Dawes is set to continue his statement on Friday.
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