Barnet Council and Related Argent unveiled at Brent Cross West today (28 November), a new 250 square-metre architectural panel designed by Barnet-raised artist Giles Round.

Called ‘Time passes & still I think of you’, the artwork is dedicated to Giles Round’s late mother Margaret Round, who for a time worked in the Brent Cross shopping centre. The artwork is a dedication to love, loss and hope, combining personal memories and exploring ideas about how places and buildings are essential to our sense of identity and connections.

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

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.”

The unveiling comes at a time where Barnet launches its bid for Borough of Culture 2027. This artwork is another landmark piece of art in the area that helps promote and celebrate the borough’s cultural identity.

Phoebe Greenwood, the curator, 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 panel artwork is located at Brent Cross West’s impressive eastern entrance, which leads to London’s newest neighbourhood, Brent Cross Town.

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.”

Keith Jipps, GTR’s Infrastructure Director, said: “We welcome and encourage art at our stations, commissioning over 200 works of public art across the network in our recent station improvement programme. Art not only enriches our passengers’ journeys but it makes the station a more valuable asset for the local community it serves. And when the art and artists have local associations, their work makes connections and strengthens bonds – that’s exactly what Brent Cross West’s fabulous mural is all about.”

About Brent Cross West

Brent Cross West is London’s newest mainline station and is set to open on Sunday 10 December 2023. Thameslink trains will connect commuters from central London to Brent Cross in as little as 12 minutes. It provides the gateway to new neighbourhood Brent Cross Town via a new overbridge that will give access across this part of the Midland Main Line for the first time since it was built more than 150 years ago, linking communities on both sides of the station, and making it much easier to get around the area.

Find out more about the station and the opening day here.