Major renovations to get dedicated checks by new unit

A Housing Bureau unit found to have been primarily responsible for failed supervision of major renovations at Wang Fuk Court in the runup to the fire will be replaced within about a month by a new body, Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong said on Friday. About 300 staff at the bureau's Independent Checking Unit will move over to the new Public Housing Building Control Unit, which will have a project-based workflow. Making the announcement, Wong, the acting secretary for housing, said under the new workflow system, each major maintenance job would get a dedicated team and a project liaison officer as a one-stop contact for owners’ corporations, instead of splitting inspection, structural checks, minor works and site monitoring across different desks. A directorate-grade officer, he added, would shortly be seconded from the Buildings Department to the new unit to guide day-to-day work and keep enforcement standards aligned. "We believe there are several things that will bring a substantial improvement in the quality of our future services," Wong said. "First, we're changing our basic regulatory model to a project-based approach. "Also, communication with the Buildings Department – which was originally set at once every 12 months – has recently been changed to once a quarter." Wong added...