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February 14, 2022

Ely Museum shortlisted for RIBA award

We are delighted to reveal that Ely Museum has been shortlisted for the RIBA East, Regional Awards.

All shortlisted projects will be assessed by a regional jury with the winning projects set to be announced in May.

RIBA East regional director Louise Todd said: "Given the challenges of the past two years, we were thrilled to see a significant number of entries to the regional awards this year. The shortlisted schemes across the region demonstrate the determination and design skill of all the practices involved, on projects large and small and across all sectors. They also show the enormous value that architects bring to these projects and how their expertise can be used to create better spaces for people to live, work and experience."

Photography by Philip Vile.

January 24, 2022

Short Wyre St wayfinding artwork receives Planning approval

We are excited to reveal that the first of our artist designed wayfinding sculptures for Our Colchester BID and Colchester Borough Council, has now received Planning approval. We anticipate that fabrication will start soon, pending further permissions from ECC Highways, with delivery expected in May.

Sited at the junction of Short Wyre St, Queen St and St Botolph's St - one of the entry points to the independent 'lanes' - a part of the medieval town layout which was overlaid onto the Roman street grid - Nicola Burrell's design celebrates the distinctive identity of the streets and invites visitors to explore further, as well as acting as functional signage in a location where existing signage is inadequate.

November 18, 2021

Head Street wayfinding artwork

An online consultation has been launched for the second of our projects resulting from the ‘Indies Route’ strategy, developed for Our Colchester BID. We have commissioned locally based artist Ben Coode-Adams to create a new piece of wayfinding signage, celebrating the history of the town, and his proposal can be seen in the online survey.

Sited at one of the entry points to the independent ‘lanes’ – part of the medieval town layout which was overlaid onto the Roman street grid – Ben’s proposal is inspired by the pre and post Roman history of the town and informed by Colchester Castle’s collections. It serves to announce and invite visitors to explore further, as well as acting as functional signage in a location where existing signage is inadequate, and also includes proposed improvements to the public realm and cycle racks at the site.

The informal consultation runs from Wednesday 17th November to Wednesday 1st December, and feedback will inform the development of the final proposal before we submit a planning application later in the year. This follows a successful consultation for the first of our creative wayfinding projects, which received very positive support for a piece sited at the other end of the ‘lanes’. HAT have been working with the BID and Colchester Borough Council since 2018 on various projects to improve the public realm of the town centre.

October 14, 2021

Short Wyre St wayfinding artwork

The first of our projects resulting from the 'Indies Route' strategy, developed for Our Colchester BID, has now been launched for consultation. We have commissioned artist Nicola Burrell to create a new wayfinding artwork for Colchester town centre, and her proposal can be seen on the online survey.

Sited at one of the entry points to the independent 'lanes' - part of the medieval town layout which was overlaid onto the Roman street grid - Nicola's proposal celebrates the distinctive identity of the streets and invites visitors to explore further, as well as acting as functional signage in a location where existing signage is inadequate.

The informal consultation runs from Thursday 14th October to Thursday 28th October, and feedback will inform the development of the final proposal before we submit a planning application later in the year. HAT have been working with the BID and Colchester Borough Council since 2018 on various projects to improve the public realm of the town centre, and proposals by artist Ben Coode-Adams for another site will be unveiled later in the year.

July 29, 2021

Jaywick Works receives Planning approval

We are really pleased to reveal that Jaywick Works has now received planning permission; we anticipate that work will start on site later this year. The project includes 25 affordable business units, ranging from shopfront kiosks to office and light industrial units, indoor and outdoor market space, training room, café and community garden (developed with Beth Chatto Gardens) as well as public WCs and other improvements. Further information can be found here.

March 17, 2021

Jaywick Market Consultation

We are running a survey with Tendring District Council to find out what residents of Jaywick Sands think about our ideas for new business space, covered market and a community garden in the heart of their community and are particularly interested in hearing from people who may be interested in renting a space.

This exciting new project has been awarded central government funding, to bring businesses and jobs into Jaywick Sands, and to improve the public open space on the former Sunspot and market site between Brooklands and the Village. HAT are working with Tendring District Council and operator Colbea on the project, which should open in mid 2022.

We want everyone to be involved in developing these exciting plans with us - so please follow the link to complete the survey before 9th April 2021 - we will feed back what we have learnt to you after that.

More information on the project is available here.

February 17, 2021

St Nicholas Square Survey and Webinar

HAT have produced an online survey running from 15 February to 19 March 2021 on behalf of Colchester Borough Council asking residents for their views on designs for an exciting new public space at St Nicholas Square in the town centre. Funding from central government's Town Deal has been awarded to CBC, enabling this important but neglected public space to be improved.

We have been working with local businesses, councillors and representatives from different user groups to develop a design that achieves the project’s ambitions and is both practical and beautiful. We now really want to hear what the wider community thinks - and we'll then be refining the designs in response to feedback.

We are also holding a community webinar at 6pm, 2 March 2021, where you can ask any questions you have about the project. Full details are on the final page of the survey.

St Nicholas Square is a wonderful historic space but it has not been used to its full potential for some time - so we are excited to help it become a vibrant space for the future. We expect the project to start on site in late Spring 2021 and be completed a few months later.

Councillor David King, Portfolio Holder for Business and Resources at CBC said: "I am looking forward to the opportunity to present initial plans for what promises to be a very exciting new public space. This investment will be a real boost for local retail and hospitality businesses and I am extremely pleased work on this project is moving forward.

"I would encourage local stakeholders and interested parties to join the webinar to hear more about the proposal for a safe and vibrant social hub in the heart of our town centre."

February 9, 2021

Hana attains RTPI Chartered Town Planner status

Director Hana Loftus is now a chartered town planner (MRTPI) having qualified through the Experienced Practitioner route offered by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI). The Experienced Practitioner route recognises the significant planning experience that practitioners from different academic backgrounds can have. We are delighted that Hana’s expertise in planning, community engagement and policy has been recognised and look forward to helping our clients and partners with their further planning requirements.