Tai Po in Flames [Hong Kong], by Bic and Lichen – 29 November 2025

From Lausan

On 26th November 2025, around 2:50pm, a fire broke out in one of the 31-story buildings in Wang Fuk Court, a 42-year-old Home Ownership Scheme housing estate in Tai Po, Hong Kong. The fire quickly escalated to the deadliest in the city since 1947, spreading to six neighboring towers and increasing in intensity. As of the time of writing, 128 people were killed, including one firefighter and seven migrant workers. 76 people are injured, over 200 people are still missing, and over 900 residents were evacuated. Nearly 40% of the Wang Fuk residents are over 65, and have lost the place they have called home for decades.

The fire was initially labelled as an accident. However, many accounts have been published to refute this claim. In this short article, we attempt to summarize these accounts, and point to how the Wang Fuk Fire was the result of using improper flammable protective nets during ongoing renovations, which is deeply connected to corruption, government collusion, and a capitalist system geared entirely towards the profit of parties preferred by the regime. We report in contrast how people are making a collective effort to rescue their community during a chaotic and traumatic time.

Bid-rigging and profit-making as true culprits of the tragedy

The Wang Fuk Court fires broke out while the housing estate’s exterior was undergoing a massive renovation. The renovation project was greenlit by the Owners’ Corporation in January 2024. The construction company that won the tender for renovation was Prestige Construction & Engineering Co. Limited, for a total amount of HKD330 million. This amount would be distributed among 1984 homeowners, with each household paying HKD150,000-190,000.

There were several serious issues with this tender bid. The first is that Prestige Construction’s HKD330 million quote far exceeded those of the alternatives. Much of the quote was allocated to “miscellaneous” items, rendering it opaque and shielded from scrutiny. The second was that Prestige Construction had been mired in cases of misconduct since 2007. Not only was its former major shareholder convicted of bribery and corruption during a renovation project in Yuen Long, but the company itself had also engaged in bid-rigging (圍標). This is an illegal practice that has persisted for more than a decade, in which companies collude to submit non-competitive bids, the winner of the tender obtains the contract at higher prices, who then compensates the other parties through cash or subcontracting positions. Additionally, since 2016, Prestige Construction has been accused of 17 violations of occupational safety and environmental health regulations. The third issue was that residents’ rights to listen in to Owners’ Corporation meetings on the renovation project were repeatedly revoked. Their attempts to participate in the decision-making process were also consistently blocked or undermined. Over 5% of homeowners had signed a petition asking the Owners’ Corporation to have a meeting according to proper procedures, but the Corporation continued to override these procedures, and tried to discredit the homeowners who disagreed with them.

Despite winning the bid at HKD330 million, Prestige Construction appeared to cut costs at every turn. Since early 2024, the Wang Fuk renovation was flagged by construction whistleblower Jason Poon Cheuk-Hung, who argued that the scaffolding mesh that caused the rapid spread of the fire failed to meet fire-retardant standards. Regulations stipulate that any construction that exceeds 15m in height must use fire-retardant mesh. Fire-retardant mesh costs more than standard mesh, a HKD20/sq. m difference according to Poon. This would create a HKD4 million (approximately $510,000 USD) profit incentive for Prestige Construction to cut corners.

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Tai Po in Flames [Hong Kong], by Bic and Lichen – 29 November 2025

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