Owners on the complicated destroyed in one in all Hong Kong’s deadliest fires had been incorrectly advised the contractor that authorities blame for the blaze had a clear security file, paperwork considered by Reuters present.
Residents got the assurances by Will Energy Architects, which was retained by their owners’ company to guage bids for a renovation contract, based on a PowerPoint presentation created by the advisor.
In actual fact, the contractor, Status Development & Engineering Co., had been penalized by the town’s security regulator greater than a dozen occasions within the seven years earlier than it was employed by the company to renovate the complicated, based on the company’s information, together with for improperly putting in scaffolding and defective electrical connections.
The fines had been issued for violations of an industrial-safety ordinance between 2016 and 2019, based on Labor Division information. Offenses beneath the code are sometimes prosecuted in a Justice of the Peace’s courtroom.
This account of how Status received a HK$330 million ($42.4 million) renovation contract on Will Energy’s suggestion, in addition to the cascade of considerations about spiraling prices and fireplace hazards that adopted, is predicated on interviews with two dozen folks and a evaluation of development and regulatory information.
Residents, together with some with expertise in development, repeatedly complained about employees smoking on-site and Status’s use of flammable materials in locations just like the scaffolding. In addition they made an aborted effort to revoke the agency’s contract.
Reuters couldn’t decide why Will Energy wrote within the undated presentation created for the owners’ company that Status had “no file of being prosecuted by the Labour Division.” The information company additionally couldn’t set up whether or not the contractor disclosed the violations to Will Energy or if it contested the penalties, although the information are solely revealed on-line after any enchantment has been exhausted.
Will Energy and Status didn’t reply to calls and letters left at their shuttered places of work in search of remark. Reuters couldn’t set up if the corporations had retained attorneys or confirm their response to the investigations as no authorized filings have been made.
Consultants are answerable for reviewing contractors’ bids, whereas contractors are required to not misrepresent or omit their security file if requested, two development trade specialists advised Reuters.
The work of the 2 corporations is now topic to manslaughter and corruption investigations after the Nov. 26 blaze at Wang Fuk Court docket, which has claimed no less than 159 lives and is the town’s deadliest since 1948. Authorities say elements of the mesh utilized by Status on the constructing scaffolding to catch particles didn’t meet fire-safety requirements and foam boards used to guard home windows throughout renovation had been extremely flammable.
The Labor Division acknowledges that it advised residents who had raised considerations earlier than the blaze that the mesh was licensed as secure. Hong Kong’s deputy chief advised reporters on Monday that contractors tried to “idiot” inspectors by mixing substandard materials with high-quality mesh.
At the least three folks accountable for Status and 4 folks from Will Energy have been arrested within the investigations. Authorities have made extra arrests as a part of the probes, although the entire variety of folks in custody is unclear and no expenses have been introduced. Regulation enforcement has not named the arrested folks, as is customary in Hong Kong.
Wang Fuk Court docket consisted of eight government-subsidized housing towers constructed close to a pier and industrial property in northern Hong Kong. Its roughly 2,000 items – none bigger than 500 sq. toes (46.45 sq. meters) – had been owned by many blue-collar employees and senior residents.
Hong Kong Police and the Labor Division, which enforces security requirements at industrial websites, didn’t reply to questions on their investigations and Status’s security file. The labor company advised Reuters final week that it had knowledgeable owners final yr that they confronted “comparatively low fireplace dangers” after receiving repeated complaints about fireplace hazards, together with the renovation mesh. Nonetheless, it mentioned that this didn’t imply the company had ignored the dangers, stressing that it had reminded Status to implement fire-prevention measures.
The Buildings Division, which units tips on development supplies however is separate from the labor company, referred Reuters to 2 paperwork it had despatched to development corporations in October and November. The notices urged them to “take immediate motion” in guaranteeing that development supplies just like the mesh netting met fire-safety requirements, however didn’t particularly reference foam boards.
Messages despatched by Reuters to an adviser of the previous management of the company in search of remark went unanswered.
Residents’ revolt
Hong Kong laws require buildings which are greater than 30 years previous to endure inspections and renovations no less than as soon as.
The work at Wang Fuk Court docket, which was constructed within the Nineteen Eighties, entailed refurbishment of the outside cladding, fixing fireplace security options and changing water pipes.
Status was employed after Will Energy awarded its bid one of many highest grades among the many 57 bids and mentioned it had a spotless security file.
Labor Division information reviewed by Reuters, nevertheless, present that Status had been fined a cumulative HK$309,000 ($39,700) for 15 office security violations dedicated between September 2016 and June 2019. The company didn’t reply when requested about Status’s file.
Individually, the Buildings Division ordered Status and an affiliated individual to pay a complete of HK$139,000 ($17,850) for “negligence or misconduct” and processing prices associated to 2 tasks from 2012 and 2014, information revealed within the authorities gazette in 2023 present. The company additionally barred Status from performing sure tasks for 4 months.
Issues with the renovation began turning into obvious in early 2024, when the permitted complete price of the venture greater than doubled from the roughly HK$150 million ($19.3 million) offered through the bid because the scope of works expanded, based on minutes from a January 28 owners’ company assembly.
In Hong Kong, such firms characterize the house owners of house items in overseeing the administration and upkeep of an property.
The following month, a resident submitted to the company’s administration signatures of a variety of owners, hoping to set off a particular assembly to switch the long-serving management and revoke Status’s contract.
Owners needed to switch the management primarily as a consequence of considerations over how rapidly Status needed to be paid, the present head of the supervisory physique of residents advised Reuters. Assembly minutes additionally present residents repeatedly complained about “sky-high” prices and never being completely consulted on the scope of works.
However the prior owners’ board questioned the validity of the signatures and warned {that a} “particular assembly wastes money and time and damages relationships,” based on bulletins revealed on the complicated’s web site.
The assembly was lastly convened throughout a hurricane on September 6, 2024, seven months after the primary request. Greater than 1,200 folks braved the climate to attend the gathering that stretched till 11 p.m.
By the top of the night, new management of the owners’ board had been put in.
Fireplace hazards
The brand new board finally didn’t revoke Status’s contract after being advised by a lawyer the transfer would go away all house owners legally liable, the minutes present, with out specifying the dangers.
The lawyer, Walter Tsui of WT Regulation Workplaces, confirmed he knowledgeable the house owners of their potential legal responsibility however mentioned he didn’t bear in mind specifics. He advised Reuters he was invited to the assembly by the brand new board and wasn’t representing any celebration: “I solely gave my opinion when residents requested me about it.”
The brand new board instantly launched a evaluation of the renovation venture that included wanting into fire-safety dangers. It additionally mobilised volunteer groups of residents with expertise in development to assist oversee the positioning, whereas accumulating photographic proof of potential breaches, movies posted to the company’s web site present.
“Will there be any corner-cutting? Any violations of security tips? Any lack of follow-up? Don’t fear – our supervisory taskforce will maintain an in depth watch,” the owners’ company mentioned in a video on the complicated’s web site.
Regardless of the brand new staff’s efforts, which included a September 2024 assembly with Status at which it was requested to elucidate the security of a few of its supplies, some residents nonetheless felt they needed to take issues into their very own arms.
Retired electrician and plumber Wong, the topic of a extensively circulated Reuters {photograph} that confirmed him in despair as Wang Fuk Court docket burned behind him along with his spouse trapped inside, ripped out foam boards protecting his home windows and changed them with fire-retardant plastic movie, his son advised Reuters.
Wong additionally often sprayed water onto the mesh exterior his flat to maintain it moist, mentioned his son, J Wong, who like his father declined to present his full identify.
“Regardless of figuring out the dangers, it doesn’t matter what he did, he couldn’t change what occurred,” J Wong mentioned. – Rappler.com
