At least a third of the government heritage advisory board, including all its historians, say they will object to the redevelopment of Government Hill at their meeting today.
They say a proper historic appraisal and a higher grading are necessary to preserve the integrity of the hill, a symbol of colonial history.
Eight of the 23 Antiquities Advisory Board (AAB) members contacted by the South China Morning Post yesterday - including the five historians Joseph Ting Sun-pao, Ho Pui-yin, Stephanie Chung Po-yin, Ko Tim-keung and Lau Chi-pang - said they disagreed with officials' proposal to demolish the 1950s west wing of the government headquarters, now relocated to Tamar in Admiralty, to build a commercial tower.
Chung said the board should view the hill as an organic whole when considering a grade, since it adopted the same approach in declaring The Peak's Ho Tung Gardens as a monument last month, recognising the integral landscape value of the gardens and the mansion.
'We should not see the west wing as an individual building but part of the colonial symbol. To grade it separately would be double standards and it would not be fair to Ho Tung's descendents,' Chung said.
Ting and Lau, unable to attend the meeting due to other engagements, said they were also against redevelopment as there were few integral colonial places like Government Hill.
The other three against redevelopment are architectural conservationists Lee Ho-yin and Tony Lam Chung-wai, and Lilian Law Suk-kwan, executive director of the Boys' and Girls' Clubs Association.