appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Wynna Wong

Hong Kong authorities have suspended the main contractor and lift subcontractor working on a new clinical block at Queen Mary Hospital from tendering for public works after serious defects left most lifts unreliable and delayed the launch of services.
An engineer and a lawmaker said on Saturday that the extent of the defects was “extremely rare” in Hong Kong and unreasonable, while the government’s decision to temporarily stop the firms from tendering for other projects was appropriate.
The Architectural Services Department said in a social media post late on Friday that the contractors’ poor performance had been recorded in assessment reports.
It added that the firms would need to bear the full cost of remedial works and could face claims for losses arising from delays to the HK$15.15 billion (US$1.93 billion) redevelopment project at the hospital in Pok Fu Lam.
“In accordance with contractual mechanisms, we have also reflected the contractor’s and works subcontractor’s poor performance on the project in their assessment reports and suspended their eligibility to tender for public works contracts,” the department said.
The main contractor for the first phase of the redevelopment was a Paul Y-Able joint venture. The lift subcontractor, Anlev Elex Elevator, is a subsidiary of ATAL Engineering Group, founded by Otto Poon Lok-to, the husband of former justice secretary Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah.
Joint venture partner Able has, since January, been serving a one-year suspension in relation to work at three light public housing sites, where at least 23 screws connecting formwork used to cast concrete core walls were last September found to have been cut short without approval.
The department said damaged electronic components, faulty wiring connections and poor installation workmanship were among the problems affecting 24 of the 28 newly installed lifts in Clinical Block 1.
The defective components included circuit boards and lift-levelling sensors. The faults caused the lifts to start or stop unevenly, halt at positions not level with the floor, or fail to open their doors, it said.
The remaining four lifts, which serve non-clinical facilities in the building, were operating at an acceptable level. They required only minor repairs, which could be carried out later.

The department said the lifts’ safety protection systems had worked as intended and protected passengers. But the systems were activated frequently, repeatedly bringing the lifts to a halt. The problems, therefore, had to be fully rectified before clinical services could begin.
All 28 lifts had received permits for use from the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department by July last year, after it reviewed the subcontractor’s testing reports and conducted on-site inspections and examinations.
Under the Lifts and Escalators Ordinance, a new lift must be thoroughly examined and certified by a registered engineer as being in safe working order before it can be used. The director of electrical and mechanical services can then issue a use permit.
The situation has raised questions over how the lifts could have passed the statutory safety examination while remaining too unreliable to support clinical operations.
The Architectural Services Department said it would review the problems encountered during the acceptance stage to improve its supervision of future projects.
It stressed that the new block had not begun providing clinical services when the defects were discovered and that the lift works remained at the defect-rectification stage.
The building currently houses only non-clinical facilities, including restaurants, a convenience store and laboratories. Clinical services would not begin until all facilities were operating reliably and met safety and operational requirements, the department added.
Lawmaker Aaron Bok Kwok-ming, an engineer by profession, said it was possible for the lifts to have passed testing and commissioning before faults emerged after they had been operating for a period of time.
“At the time of acceptance, the machinery may have been operating normally … But mechanical equipment can develop problems after operating for some time and may require further adjustment or the replacement of certain components,” he said.
But Bok described the scale of the problems at Queen Mary Hospital as “extremely rare”, saying defects found after acceptance would ordinarily affect only a small proportion of the installation.
“Twenty-something out of 28 lifts is simply too high a proportion. It is unreasonable,” he said, adding that the contractor should repair all the faults and replace components that continued to perform poorly.
Bok said recording the contractor’s performance and temporarily suspending it from bidding for new government contracts was reasonable, describing exclusion from tendering as a serious penalty.
He cautioned against automatically removing the company from existing projects, saying each contract should generally be considered separately because different sites were managed by different project teams.
Veteran electrical and building services engineer Ho Wing-ip said on Saturday that the issuance of use permits and the subsequent operational problems were not necessarily contradictory, as the statutory process was primarily to establish whether a lift was safe to operate at the time of examination.
Ho said the issue could have stemmed from the lifts being fitted with highly sensitive protection systems that stopped them operating as soon as an abnormality was detected.
“The more sensitive the system is, the more likely it is that a relatively minor issue will cause it to stop … maybe even a small piece of rock,” he said.
“In pursuing safety, reliability may sometimes be compromised.”
He added that “reliability” meant whether a lift remained available when users needed it, rather than whether it was safe.
That was why “authorities really need to disclose the technical reasons as soon as possible”, he said, for the public to understand whether the frequent shutdowns reflected properly functioning safety protections or more fundamental defects in the lift system.
“They should explain what caused the problems, carry out the rectification work and report the findings to the public.”
The first phase of the hospital redevelopment received about HK$15.15 billion in approved funding.
The total included HK$1.59 billion for preparatory works, according to a Legislative Council meeting in 2014. A further HK$13.56 billion was approved for the main works.
Preparatory work began in July 2014, while the main works started in October 2018 and were declared substantially completed in December 2024.
Clinical services were originally expected to begin moving into the 34-storey block from the end of last year. But the move has been delayed by defects in the lifts and negative-pressure systems.
The Architectural Services Department said repairs, testing and acceptance work were continuing and were expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.


Hong Kong’s fight against cancer must begin with early screening

Hong Kong minister vows to give public account of Queen Mary Hospital lift saga

Minister rejects claims mainland Chinese nurses are favoured over local candidates

US regulators back multi-cancer blood test – but Hong Kong doctors remain cautious

Hong Kong healthcare and hospitals

Hong Kong suspends contractors over Queen Mary Hospital lift defects

Damaged electronic components, faulty wiring connections and poor installation workmanship were among the problems affecting 24 of the 28 newly installed lifts in Clinical Block 1. Photo: Karma Lo

Clinical Block 1 forms part of the first phase of Queen Mary Hospital’s multibillion-dollar redevelopment. Photo: Karma Lo

Faulty lifts in Clinical Block 1 at Queen Mary Hospital have delayed the launch of all clinical services at the building. Photo: Karma Lo

The faults caused lifts to start or stop unevenly, halt at positions that were not level with the floor, or fail to open their doors. Photo: Karma Lo

Contractor ordered to fix faulty lifts causing Queen Mary Hospital block delay

Clinical Block 1 forms part of the first phase of Queen Mary Hospital’s multibillion-dollar redevelopment. Photo: Hospital Authority

Hong Kong tests thermal drones to catch illegal smoking at construction sites

Hong Kong labour authorities have begun testing an infrared thermal-imaging drone to detect heat sources and illegal smoking at construction sites. Photo: Jonathan Wong

The total site smoking ban took effect on July 17. Photo: Jonathan Wong

News

Hong Kong

Society

Authorities say 24 of 28 lifts in new block are affected, delaying the launch of clinical services until repairs are completed


Authorities say 24 of 28 lifts in new block are affected, delaying the launch of clinical services until repairs are completed.


Electrical and Mechanical Services Department

Hong Kong society

Queen Mary Hospital

Hong Kong suspends contractors over Queen Mary Hospital lift defects

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Authorities say 24 of 28 lifts in new block are affected, delaying the launch of clinical services until repairs are completed

Authorities say 24 of 28 lifts in new block are affected, delaying the launch of clinical services until repairs are completed