Barnet Council and Related Argent today (Tuesday 28 November) unveiled a new architectural frieze at Brent Cross West, London‘s newest mainline station, which is due to open on Sunday 10 December.

The frieze measures 250 square metres and was created by celebrated Barnet-raised artist Giles Round. Its unveiling coincides with Barnet’s launch of its bid to be designated Borough of Culture 2027 . The Council describes it as “another landmark piece of art in the area that helps promote and celebrate the borough’s cultural identity”.

Round has titled the frieze ‘Time passes & still I think of you’, and dedicated it to his late mother Margaret Round, who worked in Brent Cross shopping centre. The Council describes the frieze as “a tender monument to love, loss and hope” which combines “personal memories with ideas about how place is essential to our sense of identity and how the buildings around connect us with the landscapes of our lives”.

The station stands within Brent Cross Town, one of Europe’s largest net-zero urban regeneration projects. The frieze is located at its impressive eastern entrance and connects to Copper Square, the centre of the new business and innovation district.

Brent Cross West is the newest mainline station in London. Thameslink trains will run from the station into central London with a journey time of as little as twelve minutes. It provides access to Brent Cross Town via a new overbridge that allows people to cross this part of the Midland Main Line for the first time in its 150-year history. The overbridge will link communities on both sides of the station, and make it much easier to get around the area.

Councillor Ammar Naqvi, Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure, Arts and Sports at Barnet Council, said: “High profile artworks like the latest frieze by Giles Round at Brent Cross West help to showcase how we are building Barnet as a cultural destination. Our commitment to bid to become London’s Borough of Culture is about identifying and amplifying the amazing cultural offerings we already have here in Barnet, and about attracting artists, musicians and other cultural contributors to come here.”

Morwenna Hall, Partner at Related Argent, commented: “This is an exciting day to unveil a major piece of public art which is part of the new Brent Cross West station. We are committed to delivering arts and culture from the very beginning of the development for the local community to enjoy. The new station is an important part of Brent Cross Town which enhances sustainable connectivity for local residents and anchors the new business and innovation district.”

Giles Round, the artist, said: “The work is a monument to love. It is for everyone, in particular, all we have lost.”

Curator Phoebe Greenwood said, “Giles Round is one of the UK’s most important artists with significant permanent public artworks across the country. Art, Round believes, has a critical place alongside architecture and design in creating organisations and environments to help us live well. The artist’s commitment to the civic and their unique relationship to the location has brought something profoundly personal into this new public space. This is a vibrant artwork. Bright colour, bold geometry, scale, beauty, pleasure – these are important elements the artist enjoys working with.”