On Saturday (21 September), high-speed railway HS2 celebrated its work with arts organisation, Absolute Beginners in making objects from the London Clay excavated for building at Old Oak Common.

Local artists attended a celebratory lunch at the Old Oak Common superhub station site.

Food was served on one hundred plates and one hundred bowls made from clay dug up to create the huge underground station box.

Absolute Beginners is led by artist Tom James, and worked with HS2 and local people aged 17-21 who have learned to use the clay to make objects.

The group of young people started their learning last year by using the clay to make a simple plate, developing skills in processing, manipulating and firing the clay. More recently, the group has completed the two-hundred-piece set, affectionately named ‘low speed plates’.

Absolute Beginners boasts a “unique” way of making its pottery. It uses off-grid power, local materials and simple tools.

It hopes the resulting ceramics will be “a reminder of the foundations of the station under our feet, London clay”.

The HS2 station team will use the dinner set at annual meals with local communities and stakeholders to celebrate construction milestones.

Eighty people attended Saturday’s celebratory meal, including the young people who made the dinner service, and guests from the local community and HS2’s supply chain.

Boring HS2’s Atlas Road Logistics Tunnel involved excavating sixty-two thousand tonnes of London Clay.

HS2 and Old Oak Common constructor Balfour Beatty VINCI SYTSRA joint venture (BBVS) have also been working on other creative projects to make use of waste from the construction process.

Local organisations Park Royal Open Workshop and Re-Made are researching the re-use of materials in the concrete casting process, which forms a major element of building the station.

Earlier this month, clay excavated by HS2 was featured in a showcase at Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery that was organised with the Park Royal Design District.

The exhibition included work by local artists, including painted clay works and 3D-printed furniture, each of which told what HS2 calls “a unique story of innovation and environmental stewardship in the heart of London”.

“It is fantastic to be working with the local creative community around the Old Oak Common station site to support these fantastic projects. We’re committed to building a sustainable station, for Britian’s new zero carbon railway, and this includes finding sustainable ways for waste materials to be used. It’s a pleasure to celebrate the Absolute Beginners project with the local community, using our new dinner service.”

Peter Gow, Project Client for Old Oak Common Station at HS2 Ltd

“We’ve spent the last two years learning to work with the clay that’s being extracted from Old Oak Common – and turning it into 100 plates and bowls. We’re calling them Low Speed Plates, because they are. Led by artist Phil Root, our young people have learnt every step of the process: from breaking down the raw material, to learning how to make these plates by hand, to developing prototypes and going into production. It hasn’t been easy, but we’re thrilled with the results.”

Tom James, Director, Absolute Beginners