Learning form Disaster: A Review of Hong Kong's Policy Drive to Prevent Building Collapses and Fires

Hong Kong's crowded city, with its old buildings and many people, has some tough structural and fire safety problems. In 2024, a significant incident happened when an illegal structure fell down at Redhill Peninsula on Hong Kong Island. Luckily, nobody died, but a lot of property was damaged. Then, in 2025, a terrible fire in Tai Po killed 176 people and got everyone worried again about how safe buildings are from fires. These two significant events were a wake-up call, showing some large weaknesses in how buildings are kept up, problems with illegal construction, and issues with fire safety equipment. This paper looks at the different things that cause buildings to fail and fires to happen in Hong Kong. This includes old buildings, changes to structures that were not allowed, badly designed drainage, and poor upkeep of fire equipment, and bad renovation work. The paper also looks at what the Hong Kong Government has done to fix these problems, like the Minor Works Control System, the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme, and new rules from the Fire Services Department. It talks about how important Registered Inspectors and Registered Professional Engineers are when it comes to making these safety measures work. It also discusses about good inspection methods, paperwork, and doing a good job as a professional. By looking at all this, the hope is to add something to the talks about safety and stopping disasters in cities with lots of people.

Building Safety, Fire Safety, Fire Service Installations, Unauthorized Building Structures, Urban Disaster Prevention

1. Buildings Department. (2012). Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme. Available at https://www.bd.gov.hk/en/safety-inspection/mbis/index.html. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Buildings Department. (2012a). Mandatory Window Inspection Scheme. Available at https://www.bd.gov.hk/en/safety-inspection/mwis/index.html. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Buildings Department. (2021). Minor Works Items. Available at https://www.bd.gov.hk/en/building-works/minor-works/minor-works-items/index.html. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Buildings Department. (2023). Bravo Digital System: Access to Building Records and Structural Drawings. Available at https://www.bd.gov.hk/en/resources/online-tools/BRAVO-online-building-records/index.html. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Buildings Department. (2024). Minor Works Control System. Available at https://www.bd.gov.hk/en/building-works/minor-works/introduction-to-minor-works-control-system/index.html. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Centre for Health Protection. (2026). COVID-19 & Flu Express. Available at https://www.chp.gov.hk/en/resources/29/100148.html. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. Fire Services Department. (2026). FS 501/501A Forms and Completion Certificates. Available at https://www.hkfsd.gov.hk/eng/forms/FSI501a_eng_20200103_142016.pdf. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Fong, K. F., Lee, C. K., Lau, K. K. L., & Ng, E. Y. Y. (2023). Residential building performance analysis at near extreme weather conditions in Hong Kong through a thermal-comfort-based strategy. In Building Simulation (Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 13-25). Beijing: Tsinghua University Press. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. Ho, H. K. (2024). Illegal luxuritecture: How the super-rich in Hong Kong land grab and unlawfully expand their luxury living spaces. Human Geography, 17(3), 339-346. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. Hong Kong Housing Authority. (2026). Barrier Free Access. Available at https://www.hkhs.com/home/upload/pdf/07_ch3.pdf. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. Kodur, V., Kumar, P., & Rafi, M. M. (2020). Fire hazard in buildings: review, assessment and strategies for improving fire safety. PSU Research Review, 4(1), 1-23. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. Li, Q. (2026). Identity, autonomy and contested authority: insights from the 2025 Hong Kong Tai Po fire. Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, 1-7. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. Meacham, B. J. (2023). Fire safety of existing residential buildings: Building regulatory system gaps and needs. Fire Safety Journal, 140, 103902. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. Rusli, M. A., Kamal, A. S. A., Tarmizi, M. R., Khan, M. F. K. A., Kamal, H., & Ismail, M. A. (2025). The Smoke Temperature Analysis and Smoke Gas Component Distribution Using the Staircase Pressurisation System. Applications of Modelling and Simulation, 9, 338-348. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. Wei, Y., Cui, M., Ye, Z., & Guo, Q. (2021). Environmental challenges from the increasing medical waste since SARS outbreak. Journal of Cleaner Production, 291, 125246. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. Yiu, H. Y. (2025). Hong Kong Fire: Dissent and Alarm under the National Security Law. Ultimo: E-International Relations. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. Zheng, Y., & Feng, Y. (2024). Improvement Design and Application of Smoke Removal System for Storage Canister. Mechanical Research & Application, 37(2), 87-90. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. Yang, Z. H. E. N. G., & Yi, F. E. N. G. (2024). Improvement Design and Application of Smoke Removal System for Storage Canister. Mechanical Research & Application, 37(2), 87-90. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• Drone-Based Phenotyping and its Utilization in Crop Improvement: A Review
• An IoT-Enabled Smart Healthcare Monitoring System Using Machine Learning for Early Health Risk Prediction
• Strategic Integration of Artificial Intelligence for Achieving Operational Excellence in Container Freight Stations Using Evidence from Chennai, India
• Adoption of OTT platforms: Analyzing User Behavior through the UTAUT2 Model
• Customers’ Buying Behaviour in Relation to Online Food Delivery (Evidence from National Capital Region (NCR) of India)