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Hong Kong fire survivors urge merging building regulators after probe
A judge-led committee’s inquiry into the Wang Fuk Court blaze heard that an independent checking unit failed to investigate non-compliant materials despite repeated resident complaints.
Residents displaced by Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court fire are calling for structural changes to the city’s building regulation, urging the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit to be merged into the Buildings Department. According to recommendations submitted to the judge-led independent committee probing the blaze, legal representatives for nine residents said the overlap and communication breakdowns between the two units contributed to regulatory failures.
The public inquiry findings, released on Saturday, cite “systemic defects and collaborative failures” and argue that consolidating the checking function would reduce redundancy and lower the risk of errors tied to delays in information flow. The committee has been conducting 30 public inquiry sessions since March, with testimony from 80 witnesses.
The fire began on November 26, 2025 in Tai Po, killing 168 people and displacing nearly 5,000 residents. During the inquiry, the panel heard that the independent checking unit did not perform effective investigation and supervision over non-compliant materials, despite repeated complaints raised by residents, the SCMP Economy said.