City University of Hong Kong will demolish sports centre where roof caved in and erect a bigger one

“The building will be self-financed and we are in the progress of preparing a proposal to be tabled to the school’s governing council for discussion,” university president Way Kuo said on Thursday, although he did not reveal how much it would cost.

The roof of the five-storey Hu Fa Kuang Sports Centre in Kowloon Tong, featuring a greening project, crashed to the ground on May 20, raising questions about the safety of such environmental projects on buildings across the city.

An investigation committee found the contractor had miscalculated the roof’s loading limit, while the Buildings Department identified poor workmanship, design failures and the use of substandard materials as possible contributing factors.

Vice-president for administration Sunny Lee Wai-kwong explained that the entire sports centre would be torn down to make way for a new building, which would feature more sports facilities, an auditorium, meeting places and learning venues.

He was confident the proposal would be passed by the council, adding that construction would take about four years.