The Buildings Department has arranged for the government contractor to put up scaffolding and a protective screen on the external wall of a building in Mong Kok and remove loose rendering, after some rendering fell off the building this morning.

Upon notification by Police that some rendering had fallen off the building's external wall, the department immediately deployed its officers to carry out a site inspection.

They found that some rendering had fallen off the external wall of a 16/F unit - the same unit from which a canopy had fallen on July 2.

The department said it did not rule out the possibility that small cracks were formed at the rendering on the external wall when the canopy fell earlier, which were further affected by heavy rains and high temperatures, thus causing the rendering to fall.

It will continue to investigate the cause of the incident. 

The registered inspector and the contractor of the building’s owners' corporation (OC) also attended the site to follow up on the incident.

As directed by the department, they set up a catchfan on the lower floor of the building facing Mong Kok Road to further safeguard public safety.

The building was earlier issued with a statutory notice under the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme. Although it has been inspected, it has to complete some repair works.

The department will continue to follow up on the matter and has requested the OC to submit a programme of works to comply with the statutory notice by carrying out the repair works as soon as possible.

If the OC fails to begin the repair works within a reasonable period of time, it will arrange for the government contractor to carry out the relevant repair works on behalf of the owners and will recover the costs from them afterwards, the department added.

With regard to the recent incidents of rendering falling off external walls, the department will review the list of buildings in the city that have not complied with the statutory notices under the scheme in respect of the common parts.

It will also deploy manpower to strengthen enforcement action, including issuing warning letters to the owners concerned, urging owners of buildings with higher risks to expedite building inspections and repair works, arranging government contractors to carry out repair works and recovering the relevant costs from the owners afterwards. Prosecution action will also be instigated if necessary.