iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

A piece of random ephemera for you: Kingsdale School (the secondary) was built on some houses that must have been CPOd. One of which was the home of Frank Stedman, the developer of Jaywick Sands. If you happen to know why and how they bought them out, would be interested...it was not bombed...

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Today's learning ... Why the f haven't I been using Claude which is srsly good at the things I need from an assistant, ChatGPT looks totally crap in comparison.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

Today's learning... ChatGPT can't produce a remotely accurate word count. Srsly.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

I wrote about design in the regions...with some uncomfortable truths.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

So glad to hear about the listing of the Wolverhampton School of Art but srsly @bbcnewslive.bsky.social this sentence should not have got through editorial. 'Vast, grey structures' is not a description of an architectural style and not accurate for Brutalism. Please consult subject matter experts!

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

Just got shown an advert for Ozempic on Insta which had so many troubling things about it, it's hard to know where to start. Obesity is a disease as a strapline? A Black woman (AI generated) in running kit, looking frustrated, as the featured human? No actual mention of the drug they are peddling?

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Ever more emails trying to sell us AI solutions for our business. On top of AI slop invading every corner of everything, AI-written marketing blurb being used to sell AI 'business solutions' to us is just 🤮🤮🤮🤮. Should I get ChatGPT to write spurious answers to the marketing emails and infinitum?

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

I hope that the publication of this year's Index of Deprivation is the catalyst for Jaywick - and the other places at the bottom of that league table - to get the funding they desperately need. The incredible community of #Jaywick need and deserve it.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Contrast Stephenson's care and knowledge of the community with Farage's weak comments. If Farage really cared, he would be lobbying night and day for the £100m+ needed to deliver the flood defences and housing improvements that will secure Jaywick's future and make further regeneration possible.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

I am proud to have helped contribute, with our work on Sunspot, now a buzzing heart to the community. But the more important piece of work we did was a long-term regeneration and #floodresilience strategy - the Jaywick Sands Place Plan - that was adopted by the Council last year.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Jaywick Sands hits the news again for being the most officially deprived place in the country. But, unlike in 2019 when the index was last updated, there is a now a different story to tell - and Tendring District Council leader Mark Stephenson has been rightly speaking of this to the media.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

The sub-400 word version of the 1100 word rebuttal I sent in (complete with links for fact checking 🤣) is now online www.ft.com/content/f635...

ft.com

Letter: Road-building talk takes me back to the 1980s

From Hana Loftus, Chartered Planner; Director, HAT Projects Colchester, Essex, UK

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Bancogiro also fun to stand in the street and snack and drink and watch the world go by.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Food wise... Corte Sconta never gets old. Expensive but a wonderful treat. Ciccetti at All'Arco, Do Mori, Cantina Schiavi. Vini da Gigio for super old school. I have a long list...also consult Russell Norman (RIP)'s cookbook if you have it.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Happy to talk more if helpful!

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Boringly, I'm actually a fan of building regs in general. Not perfect but better than planning policies which attempt to cover a lot of the same ground now. Would rather have more regs and less planning. But my least favourite contradiction is stairs, part K vs part B vs part M.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Thanks guys, that totally killed my morning, but I did it. Will post on my LinkedIn if / when it is deemed too lengthy for them to print!

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Do I really have to write a ranty letter to the editor to say how disappointed I am that @financialtimes.com ran this piece, and that it came out of NESTA, with all the reasons road building is not the answer? Also, the motorway distinction is just plain weird. SIGH. www.ft.com/content/0cb6...

ft.com

Let’s fall in love with cars again

Investing more into roads will only mean higher economic returns for the UK

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

I'm too inactive here, but just to say I have an exhibition opening this weekend, plus events etc coming up... If you are in an Essex direction pls come by! firstsite.uk/event/into-t...

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

I was told about a year ago by the teenagers in our family, and their friends, that this would be an absolute gamechanger in their lives (and vote winner). I really hope they do it. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.com

Under-22s in England should get free bus travel to access work and training, MPs say

Transport committee also suggests rural weighting for bus funding and a national policy for services in England

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Oh. Just read today's Guardian, seems I should clearly have a well paid columnist job or else Polly Toynbee just plagiarised me.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

In my view the BMA would have done better to argue for the value of a highly trained and skilled worker doing high risk and life saving work, vis-a-vis other similar jobs, i.e. a pay equality question not a pay rollback to 2008.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

I'm not saying, btw, that their pay is appropriate or not. I'm really not in a position to judge that. But the sentiment out there is very negative and that has consequences in hospitals when patients come in for treatment. They don't trust the doctors.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Based on recent conversations, the BMA are very wrong to strike. They have totally lost the sympathy of the communities they are meant to be serving. Everyone has had wage stagnation. Everyone is struggling. I hope they realise they are about to seriously damage the respect and trust they need.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Which I feel is entirely reasonable. Regardless of whether it is effective, it makes them feel less valued and like their teachers are taking shortcuts. And it undermines their trust in teacher's subject matter expertise if they ask AI to help answer subject matter questions.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

This is data about what teachers think about their own AI use. What their students think may differ. Y'day had a teenager tell me how dismayed they were that their teacher used AI to write their college report. Others have told me they dislike it when their teachers use AI in class or for homework.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

@edconway.bsky.social would love to know your thoughts...having been there recently.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

Also, and of relevance to architects when we talk about the circular economy and design of our structures and how certain things are endlessly recyclable: 80% of scrap aluminium stays in the UK and is recycled here; but only 20-30% of other scrap metal eg zinc, copper.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

So surely govt needs to (like the EU) bring in controls on exporting scrap steel. Which would bring down price and stimulate domestic investment in arc furnaces, and make their own investment in Scunthorpe a real winner, and secure domestic production capacity not reliant on imported material.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

Currently 80% of our scrap steel is exported at inflated prices which reduce the viability of domestic arc furnaces. Plus obvs going to countries with terrible environmental regs and carbon intensive plants. We reimport the scrap once processed, as raw steel to use in buildings and manufacturing.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

Been reading up, belatedly, on the steel thing. Interesting stuff I learnt: blast furnaces do not help secure a domestic steel supply as the inputs (ore) are totally imported. Arc furnaces (which is what govt was offering to co-fund at Scunthorpe) use UK produced feedstock of scrap steel

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Beautiful and moving that you shared this.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

This is great news, but just get on and call it an Ecology GCSE already. I've been trying to persuade our teenagers and their friends that a career in ecology is absolutely where it's at for this century, little success so far .. 🤷 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.com

Department for Education confirms launch of natural history GCSE

Campaigners have been calling for the qualification for years but plan stalled despite a curriculum being drawn up

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

This @theguardian.com piece has so many parallels to our work in Jaywick Sands around community flood risk and resilience. Same responses from locals who are trying to survive day to day and can't think long-term. This is real in the UK and not just abroad. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.com

‘I trust my eyes, not the forecast’: Alexandria is sinking. Why don’t local fishers believe it?

The ancient Mediterranean city is at risk as sea levels rise. But most people in the vulnerable fishing village of El Max believe it will always weather the storms of time

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

There's a problem here but it is not what the article makes it out to be. I really wish they would have contacted someone who is an expert in tidal flood risk zones and planning implications (👋) to comment on it...unpack what it means and how residents can work around it successfully.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

This shows how poor communication is by LPAs and orgs like the EA, to explain what basic things like flood risk zones even mean. And even news outlets like @theguardian.com cover this stuff so poorly, not explaining it properly either, sowing more worries. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.com

Loved by rockers and royals, Eel Pie Island is threatened by tide of red tape

Changes in flood status raise fears for the future of the island where the Rolling Stones and David Bowie played

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Do not slander GY! What's not to like about a weird mix of history and seaside kitsch, plus the most incredible Winter Gardens; functioning industry and port; artists doing amazing things because it is still a cheap place to live; and incredible Portuguese speaking community with the food to match!

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

I have a rant in public. TLDR is why have reams of nice sounding design policies and aspirational manuals if you ignore them and deliver total s*** like this for our public infrastructure. How to expect communities to have pride in themselves if you can't be arsed to give them stuff to be proud of.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Things that young voters outside London care about which probably have not even hit the policy-makers radar...[sample size of our kids' friend groups] - the rise in the bus fare cap from £2 to £3 is very unpopular indeed.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Super interesting article for #infrastructure #flooddefence ppl. Normally it is communities asking for defences, not the other way round. But infrastructure is means to an end: if there's not a holistic plan to help the place behind the barrier thrive, why defend it? www.bbc.com/news/article...

bbc.com

Council urged to drop Whitesands flood defence project funding

Campaigners say rising costs and other priorities should see the proposals for a Dumfries town dropped.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

To respondents re Secured by Design ... SbD can be interpreted in misguided ways but generally I have found that if well designed with natural overlooking and secure private gardens, police recognise greater connectivity improves safety of footpaths for all users, reduce ASB and litter/flytipping.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

This is something that the (IMO) under-appreciated rural housing schemes of the 1950s and 1960s almost all get right. Streets end with views and connections to the countryside beyond. Connecting people to place, situating you in the local landscape.

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

One of the easiest and most impactful improvements that can be made to virtually every new-build development is to connect into the footpath network. On the other side of this fence are two cul-de-sacs which could easily lead into this path. Active lifestyles and enjoying beautiful countryside... 🤷

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Or 'my building is friendly really' when it is still a massive clunky block, just because the door is normal sized

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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Guilty as charged, though, have definitely used this to make the case for something or other 🫣. On the other hand I am fond of the expression 'forest scale' to describe the proper size that a street tree should be allowed to grow to.

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