High-risk Wang Fuk Court renovation works treated as low-risk, Tai Po probe hears

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing.The second of three witnesses from the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit (ICU) is set to testify on Thursday at a hearing into Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades.The government-appointed independent committee will continue to question members of the unit over the lack of oversight in the run-up to the fire at Wang Fung Court, with Nick Yung Siu-lun, senior maintenance surveyor of the ICU, taking the stand after his colleague Andy Ku Siu-ping testified a day earlier.Like Ku, the entire session will focus on Yung’s testimony. Thursday’s hearing is the second of three in the hearing’s fourth round.The ICU, which is responsible for overseeing maintenance of government-built residential complexes, had been repeatedly criticised for failing to act on residents’ complaints about flammable polyfoam boards and substandard scaffolding mesh at the estate in Tai Po.The fire happened on November 26, 2025, while the estate was undergoing a facade renovation. The blaze was Hong Kong’s deadliest since 1948, killing 168 people and displacing nearly 5,000.At Wednesday’s session, Ku, also a senior maintenance surveyor with the ICU, sought to defend his unit’s practice of informing registered inspectors appointed by the owners’ corporation ahead of checks.The practice has been slammed as officers “tipping off” contractors before their visits.But Ku said the registered inspector’s presence was necessary to explain project operations and follow up on complaints.Follow our live reporting as the hearing continues.More of our coverage: