When Super Typhoon Ragasa ripped through Hong Kong in September, it damaged the scaffolding around buildings in the Wang Fuk Court (宏福苑) housing complex. Soon after, Prestige Construction and Engineering Company (宏業建築工程有限公司), the contractor performing the renovations, sent a notice to residents announcing plans to repair the mesh netting surrounding the structures.
What they didn’t tell them was that they planned to use a cheaper material than before, one much less resistant to fire. That material is now at the center of investigations to determine the cause of the deadliest fire in Hong Kong in decades.
In the document below, Prestige tells residents: “Due to recent strong winds, the mesh coverings and scaffolding structures of various buildings have sustained serious damage. To ensure safety and to expedite the restoration of normal operations, repair works have been specially scheduled on the following non-working days: Sunday, September 28, 2025 and Sunday, October 5, 2025.”
Hong Kong outlet Ta Kung Pao has reported that fire-resistant netting can cost nearly twice as much as a non-resistant cheaper alternative. According to Now News, the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption has found that in mid-October someone smuggled fire-resistent mesh onto the work site at Wang Fuk Court and wrapped it around the bottom of the buildings in an effort to pass safety inspections. The remainder of the buildings were covered in the cheaper mesh.
After the fire, officials initially announced that the mesh surrounding the scaffolding met fire safety standards. They later ran more tests on the netting higher up on the buildings and found that it did not.
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