URA tells owners to avoid hiring lift company at centre of fire safety probe

Hong Kong’s Urban Renewal Authority has advised property owners under a subsidy scheme against hiring a contractor that failed to install fire safety components in lifts at hundreds of buildings, saying it had “lost confidence” in the company.

The move came a day after the government suspended the performance rating for Taizoom Elevator, which was found to have failed to install required fire-resistant door frame components at 338 buildings as inspections of its work across the city are carried out.

Industry professionals have urged the government to step up routine inspections of lifts and called on authorities to assist the management of buildings that had signed contracts with the company and had been waiting for work to begin.

“In view of the serious failures involved when Taizoom Elevator replaced lifts for multiple housing estates and buildings, the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) has lost confidence in its services,” a spokesman said in a reply to the South China Morning Post on Friday.