Recommendations for immediate implementation

8 These slides are extracted from the presentation by Prof. Asif Sohail Usmani and Prof. Jiang Liming, Fire Engineering Experts appointed by the Independent Committee, at the Evidential Hearing on 25 June 2026. They summarise the experts' recommendations and are published with priority to facilitate public discussion.

Recommendations for immediate implementation

1. Do not permit simultaneous cladding of high-rise buildings with combustible temporary works that are adjacent or in the vicinity of each other.

1. Architectural features such as the re-entrants in Wang Fuk Court should be considered as a part of the building, as a special kind of the vertical shaft.

1. For high-rise building facades under renovation a higher regulatory bar should be set where buildings remain occupied during the works.

1. In addition to the duration of the project, other considerations in approval of the repair/renovation works should be any special features of the building, such as its geometry, distribution and locations of windows and openings and any exits and entrances, provision of refuge floors etc.

1. Continuous monitoring of the site should be undertaken using currently available automated monitoring systems based on computer vision with independent detection and potentially suppression systems.

1. No combustibles should be allowed on any part of the building façade that could enable heat and smoke to enter the building and block evacuation routes.

1. No combustibles should be present above the ground level exits that could allow materials from the temporary works to fall and block exits.

1. Stricter oversight must be maintained to ensure that all the materials used in temporary works have been adequately treated with fire retardant compounds with proper certification and source identification.

1. Site workers must receive regular training to maintain awareness of fire hazards and remain vigilant.

1. An intensive induction of occupants and workers must be conducted before the commencement of the repair/renovation works followed by routine fire drills.

1. The building management structure (PMC/OC) and their coordination with HA and MBIS regimes should be reviewed.

Recommendations that require research

1. A well thought-out and well-designed risk-based methodology must be developed for approval of renovation/repair work for all buildings in Hong Kong enabling a bespoke building specific temporary works solution to be implemented with appropriate safety measures including redundant FSI.

1. Development of new less combustible light-weight materials that could be used in temporary works.

1. Development of bespoke redundant FSI systems especially for temporary works (such as temporary sprinkler systems).

1. Dedicated apps for each building should be developed to provide personal information, reporting and alarm portal to each resident, including live video feeds. The more eyes the more the likelihood of early fire detection.

1. In the longer term smarter technologies could enable real time monitoring of high-risk sites using digital twins and identifying the most serious potential hazards and disaster scenarios in advance through AI based simulations and AI based automated building safety management.

Recommendations for policy level changes

1. Building regulations, codes of practice, building codes and standards etc. provide essential guidance to engineers and practitioners. Compliance with them ensures a certain level of assurance of safety against severe demands during the life of a building. The flip side of this is that often compliance with regulations and codes is seen as adequate by highly cost-conscious clients and the construction industry promoting a tick-box culture of ensuring safety against expected hazards that a building may face in its lifetime. As a society we must address this culture and promote more rigorous engineering analyses and judgement to be exercised, especially when making decisions that could have a bearing upon the life safety implications of an engineering design. Since every building project is different and may have features that may throw up unforeseen challenges to occupant safety, a certain level of rigour and engineering judgement should be mandated for each individual case.

1. Without the risk of “throwing the baby out with the bathwater”, it is recommended that a committee is formed to review Hong Kong building regulations and codes of practice to ensure that some level of responsibility is borne by stakeholders when things go wrong and compliance with regulations should not become a shield for them.

1. “How to interpret and execute the public policy” and “how does the system check and ensure that the policy is fully executed?” There is no effective mechanism to learn from past incidents and make changes to fire safety policy. Strategic level routine risk assessment of urban hazards should be mandated.