New London Architecture

The Arbour at Brent Cross West station

Built

The Arbour is a 13m high glulam timber canopy at Brent Cross West station - providing a welcoming vista of Station Square and welcome to Brent Cross Town and its collection of buildings.

shedkm and Studio Egret West have co-authored the innovative design behind the entrance to the brand new station at Brent Cross West, which opened in December 2023 with The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

The design creates a befitting arrival point to a new destination at Brent Cross Town and, picking up the masterplan’s wider themes of wellbeing and access to nature, combines both the station functionality with a planted public space.

The station’s impressive, highly sustainable eastern entrance, The Arbour, which provides a gateway into Brent Cross Town, was co-authored by Studio Egret West and shedkm, with Studio Egret West retained to evolve the design through detail and construction stages. It includes a lofty timber canopy that covers a multi-level arrival sequence, picking up Brent Cross Town’s focus on wellbeing and access to nature by combining functionality with a planted public space. The large-scale glulam timber frame was developed to sit comfortably between, and connect to, two future office buildings.

The Arbour is also home to a giant piece of public art, ‘Time passes & still I think of you’, by celebrated Barnet-raised artist Giles Round, which covers 250m2 of the station’s main concourse with brightly coloured vitreous enamel panels.

Brent Cross West is the first new mainline station to be built in London in over a decade. The impressive Thameslink station is the gateway to new neighbourhood Brent Cross Town, where shedkm have also designed offices for Related Argent and Barnet Council.

Brent Cross Town will deliver 6,700 new homes, 3 million ft2 of offices creating space for 25,000 employees, and a new high street.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “Brent Cross West station, the first major new mainline station in London in over a decade, will be transformative for northwest London, better connecting Brent Cross with the rest of the capital and unlocking wider development in the area. The station will serve as a gateway to a Brent Cross Town, a brand-new neighbourhood delivering new homes, creating jobs, and aiming to be net zero by 2030."

This project is featured as a case study in RePower London: Infrastructure for Growth. The report, exhibition, and accompanying online project directory examine the critical infrastructure needed to support London's growth and resilience. We explore the role of innovation, collaboration, and sustainable design in shaping the city's future, with a focus on ensuring that London remains fit-for-purpose, equitable, and competitive in the long term.
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Project information

Status

Built

Borough

Barnet

Estimated completion

December 2023


Location

Brent Cross West, Brent Cross, London NW2 6LW, UK


Team Credits

Architect

shedkm

Architect

Studio Egret West

Engineer

Heyne Tillett Steel

Structural Engineer

Atelier Ten

Client

Related Argent

Client

London Borough of Barnet

Landscape Architect

Gillespies

Fire Consultant

OFR

Facade Engineer

FMDC

Project Manager

MACE

Contractor

Volker FiztPatrick

Architect

Chapman Taylor

Quantity Surveyor

Faithful+Gould

Project Manager

Gardiner & Theobald LLP


Listed by

shedkm

Last updated on

15/10/2024


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