Guest blog by Philip Grant in a personal capacity
It makes a change for me to be able to share some
good news with you about the heritage tile murals at the Bobby Moore Bridge and
Olympic Way. But that’s what this article is about.
The January 2020 tile mural “reveal”, with some damage
arrowed. (Photo by Francis Waddington)
When three tile mural scenes, which had been
covered over with Quintain’s vinyl advertising sheets since the autumn of 2013,
were
revealed on 18 January 2020, at
the launch of Brent’s year as London Borough of Culture, damage which had
occurred to the tiles could be seen. It was clear that water had seeped behind
the top of the tiles in Olympic Way (just outside of the subway from Wembley
Park Station), and two areas of tiles on the Ice Hockey mural had fallen off
and broken.
A close-up of part of the damage to the Ice Hockey
mural, February 2020.
I spoke about this to Julian Tollast, one of the
Quintain representatives (who I first met at a heritage event in 2014) at the
“reveal” hosted by Brent’s Mayor and Council Leader. He said he would ensure
that this damage was repaired. I asked that Quintain should at least make sure
that the “fillet” along the top of the tiles was made watertight, before vinyl
advertising sheets were put back over the murals five weeks later.
During this time, I managed to make contact with a
director of the company which had designed the murals, and supplied the tiles,
in 1993. They had sold the tiles side of their business in 2000, but he was
able to identify the type of tiles used, and give details of the German
manufacturer which made them. I passed this information on to Quintain, who
were hoping that the repair work could be arranged for the autumn of 2020, when
there would be a changeover of the vinyl sheets.
Unfortunately, when the adverts came off again, for
the three
week “periodic display” of these mural scenes in March 2021, the Ice Hockey mural was still damaged. In fact,
the damage seemed worse.
The damaged Ice Hockey tile mural, mid-March 2021. (Photo by Francis Henry)
When this photo was shared with me, I contacted
Julian at Quintain again, to find out what was happening about the repair.
After checking with Quintain’s Wembley Park Operations Team, he was able to
tell me that the damaged tiles had been removed, and loose tiles secured. A
waterproof mortar fillet had been installed along the top of the mural scenes.
Matching replacement tiles had been obtained from a UK manufacturer, and these
would be put in place by a specialist contractor by the end of March.
I was not able to visit Olympic Way to see the work
on the tiles myself, but I was told that photos would be taken before the
murals were covered over with adverts again. I looked forward to receiving
these, so that I could share them with you, but there was a delay before copies
were supplied to me. However, the pictures were worth waiting for!
The repaired Ice Hockey mural, end of March 2021. (Photo courtesy of Quintain / Wembley Park Ltd)
Panoramic view of the three tile mural scenes in
Olympic Way, after the repair, end of March 2021.
(Photo courtesy of Quintain / Wembley Park Ltd)
I would like to publicly thank Quintain’s Wembley
Park team for the repairs carried out to the Ice Hockey tile mural. They
clearly realise what a valuable cultural and heritage asset these beautiful
murals are for Wembley Park. It’s just a pity that they won’t put them back on
permanent display, so that residents and visitors can enjoy them, rather than
the bland advertising sheets which cover them most of the time!
How the tile murals in Olympic Way usually look,
March 2020.
Philip
Grant.