Green for danger: how a trend to put vegetation on Hong Kong’s roofs ended in a tangled mess
Luckily no one was killed when the ceiling collapsed at a City University sports centre – but the drama has exposed major flaws in oversight and responsibility for greening work
It was shortly after 2pm on a normal Friday afternoon when Fung Ping-yan was notified that water was leaking from the roof of the Hu Fa Kuang sports centre at City University’s Kowloon Tong campus.
Accompanied by a colleague from the maintenance unit, the veteran security manager came across a frightening scene at the Chan Tai-ho multi-purpose hall on the fifth floor of the complex: water gushing from burst pipes and alarming sounds from all directions.
He immediately sensed something was wrong. More than a dozen people were still going about their activities in the hall: students were playing badminton on the courts, while canteen workers prepared for a banquet for the sports team the next evening, to be attended by hundreds.
There was no time to think. Fung rushed everyone out in a split-second decision. Making sure no one remained in the facility, the 56-year-old manager shut and locked the door of the complex. As soon as he turned to leave, a thunderous noise erupted from behind and a blast of air sent him and his colleague flying. The roof of the complex had come crashing down.
CityU’s management, on the other hand, was in for a rough ride over how something like this could happen at one of Hong Kong’s top educational institutes.