Flammable renovation materials turn aging estate into inferno. Arrests made.

By Probe International

Hong Kong: A catastrophic fire that ripped through several high-rise apartment towers in Hong Kong’s north on Wednesday has exposed deep-seated issues within the city’s construction industry, igniting public outrage and questions over poor practices on the job and inadequate safety regulations.

Although the bulk of the blaze is now under control, more than 270 people remain missing as the death toll rises to 128.

Deemed the most lethal in Hong Kong’s peacetime history, the five-alarm fire claimed seven of the eight 31-story towers at the Wang Fuk Court housing complex in suburban Tai Po. Not only harrowing in scale, the evident preventability of the tragedy appears to be rooted in systemic failures during what should have been a routine renovation underway at the time.

Contracted to Prestige Construction & Engineering Co. Limited in 2024, the approx. $40.6 million renovation, and its alleged use of highly flammable materials, is believed to have accelerated the spread of flames from one tower to the next. All eight towers at Wang Fuk were wrapped for renovation in bamboo* scaffolding and non-compliant fire-retardant materials (such as green mesh netting and styrofoam window sealing).

As the fire raged on, a police raid of the Prestige office resulted in the arrest of directors Hau Wa-kin and Ho Kin-yip, as well as authorized signatory Steve Wong Chung-kee, on suspicion of manslaughter. The arrests have since prompted the city’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) to launch an investigation into potential corruption related to the project and lax oversight in Hong Kong’s aging public housing.

The U.K.’s Guardian published the following statement from Hong Kong police superintendent Eileen Chung: “We have reason to believe the company’s responsible parties were grossly negligent, which led to this accident and caused the fire to spread uncontrollably, resulting in major casualties.”

CNN reports:

“Police found the construction company name on inflammable polystyrene boards that firefighters found blocking some windows at the apartment complex. Officials added that they suspect other construction materials found at the apartments—including protective nets, canvas, and plastic covers—failed to meet safety standards.”

Various sources point to the company’s alarming history of safety offences. Records reveal a pattern of negligence, including fines for failing to supervise scaffolding work and ensuring safe access at previous sites. A former Prestige shareholder was jailed in 2009 for bribery in securing contracts, raising further questions about the integrity of the company. Heightening concerns over transparency and public access to information, the Labour Department reportedly keeps companies’ previous offence records for the past two years only on its website.

Despite its checkered past (to the extent that it was known), Prestige won the Wang Fuk Court project (out of 57 bidders in total), amidst allegations of opaque tendering practices by the owners’ corporation. Gleaned from posts shared via social media, the South China Morning Post reports residents had attempted to oust management over transparency issues, alleging a long-standing governance monopoly without oversight or competition.

On Nov. 28, the ICAC arrested two directors of Will Power Architects Company, the primary consultancy firm responsible for overseeing the large-scale Wang Fuk renovation project. Appointed by the estate’s owners’ corporation in 2021, the company managed aspects of the works, which included structural repairs and scaffolding installation.

Meanwhile, conflicting narratives over the widespread use of bamboo in construction—and speculation around its role as kindling in the conflagration—has become a story of its own. A number of reports suggest the bamboo scaffolding that encased all eight towers allowed flames to climb and spread between tower blocks, accelerated by winds, as “styrofoam-sealed windows and non-fireproof netting created a deadly chimney effect”—an echo of the 2017 Grenfell Tower debacle in London, where combustible cladding fueled fatalities.

Cheap, lightweight and durable, bamboo has been used for centuries in Hong Kong to curb costs and accelerate the pace of projects. The government in March announced a bamboo phase-out in favour of fire-resistant steel reportedly due to safety concerns, with metal considered a better fit for the city’s humidity. According to official figures cited by The Guardian, industrial accidents involving bamboo scaffolding have resulted in 23 fatalities since 2018. However, some Hongkongers have observed that much of the scaffolding remains standing at Wang Fuk today but not the green mesh between the bamboo poles. Critics pushing back on the “bamboo menace” narrative emphasize its use as a distraction from systemic safety issues and whether construction materials (particularly mesh safety netting and solid foam window covers) met fire safety standards.

Wang Fuk Court housed more than 4,600 people in approx. 2,000 apartments managed under a 1980s government-subsidized home ownership scheme. Completed in 1984, roughly 40% of residents at Wang Fuk Court are original owners aged 65 or older, a significant concentration even for Hong Kong’s large and growing aging population.

Reports indicate many of the victims on Nov. 26 were seniors or disabled, trapped on upper floors as elevators failed and stairs filled with smoke. According to some residents, Wednesday’s horror was compounded by fire alarms that may have been turned off to permit access for construction or not heard because of related noise. The Associated Press (AP) highlighted the lack of essential safety features, such as sprinkler systems and smoke detectors, in the city’s mass-market housing stock. Ranging in size from 40-45 square meters, it notes these basic apartments were constructed in the 1980s before Hong Kong’s fire codes mandated the inclusion of fire refuge floors.

A special task force comprising the police and fire department has been formed to conduct an investigation into the incident, marking the city’s deadliest since the infamous Garley Building blaze in 1996.

• Hong Kong’s construction industry has long relied on bamboo for its flexibility and cultural heritage, distinguishing it from mainland China’s steel scaffolds. However, safety concerns—mainly falls, not fires—prompted a March 2025 government phase-out: 50% of public works must now use metal, with full transition by 2030. The Nov. 26 disaster has accelerated calls for the switch, but critics argue blaming bamboo deflects from contractor accountability and building code lapses. Michael Mo, a former Hong Kong district councillor, told The Guardian that Wang Fuk Court residents had complained for months about shoddy behaviour from the construction company. Responding to inquiries about maintenance work, an email allegedly from the Hong Kong Labour Department (shared in a residents’ group) stated that since the work did not involve open flames, “the risk of fire from the scaffolding is relatively low.” It also asserted that the Labour Department’s regulations did not address flame-retardant standards for scaffolding.