The deadliest fire in three decades has spotlighted its risky use of flammable bamboo scaffolding and mesh for building work in a tradition dating back centuries to mainland China.
The origin of the blaze was unclear, but there was no hiding the ease with which the fire rapidly spread across the green netting and sent bamboo lattices crashing to the ground in flames.
For decades in the skyscraper-strewn former British colony, bamboo has been the material of choice for scaffolding – cheap, abundant and flexible – bound together with nylon cords.
The craft originated on mainland China where bamboo, viewed as symbolising grace and moral fortitude, has since ancient times been a cornerstone of architecture, even reputedly used for scaffolding and tools in the building of the Great Wall.
Now, though, it has largely been phased out there for sturdier metal scaffolding and clamps.
But Hong Kong, despite its modernity, still has around 2,500 registered bamboo scaffolding masters plying their trade, according to official figures.
The number of metal scaffolders is around triple that.
Small teams of scaffolders scrambling up vertiginous gleaming facades to sheathe a building in a matter of weeks is an iconic sight in the global financial hub.
The bamboo lattices are also often used alongside green construction mesh to prevent debris from injuring passers-by, as was the case in the tower blocks at the Wang Fuk Court housing complex in Hong Kong’s northern Tai Po district.
Despite the safety push, Hong Kong’s secretary for labour Chris Sun said in July that “the government has no intention to ban the use of bamboo scaffolds at the moment.”
In October, a massive bamboo scaffolding caught fire at the Chinachem Tower in the Central business district.
Again, fire consumed construction netting and bamboo poles, leaving windows burnt out and external walls badly seared. — Reuters
