Architectural Services Department
The glass curtain wall facade has suffered several failures during inclement weather. The building lost 40–50 sheets of glass during a 1994 typhoon. During Typhoon York in 1999, the tower and its twin, the Revenue Tower, together saw more than 370 panes of glass shatter. After this incident, the Architectural Services Department defended the standards of government building design and maintenance, stating that wind load tests for the curtain wall systems of the Immigration and Revenue towers were duly carried out in Florida, that the curtain walls met the wind load requirements of the Buildings Ordinance, and that the incident was an isolated occurrence caused by the strongest typhoon to hit Hong Kong in 16 years.