Northolt Public Art Strategy
A community-led public art strategy that celebrates Northolt’s heritage, diversity and green spaces, and empowers local creatives to shape the future of their town
We worked with the Ealing Council to deliver the Northolt Public Art Strategy, a framework for embedding creativity and community identity within a changing town centre. The strategy sits within the wider Visions for Northolt programme (also led by New Practice), a major investment in active travel, public realm and community-led placemaking.
Our starting point was to build on the extensive engagement carried out through Visions for Northolt between 2021 - 2023. Over 300 residents and businesses had already helped shape a community-led vision for the area. We drew from this foundation, listening to local people’s stories, priorities and creative ambitions, to identify opportunities for public art and wayfinding that would feel authentic, inclusive and lasting.
From these conversations we aimed to create a strategy shaped by local voices, and four guiding themes emerged:
Celebrating heritage - making visible the long history of Northolt’s village, landmarks and cultural assets
Northolt’s people and diversity - sharing stories from across its many communities and cultures
Identity and history - uncovering and celebrating overlooked places and narratives
Green space heritage - connecting the abundance of parks, fields and natural assets that define the area
These themes became the lens through which every recommendation, pilot and intervention was developed.
To translate these themes into action, we worked with Ealing Council to design and deliver two pilot projects that tested approaches to commissioning, collaboration and design.
Art Stops invited local creatives to propose temporary interventions that could activate public spaces across Northolt. Four artists were commissioned:
Errol Donald, a pioneer of UK graffiti art, created a large-scale mural for Northolt Leisure Centre and Library.
Levi Richards developed a mural inspired by Northolt’s churches and countryside, bringing colour and local storytelling to the Eastcote Lane garages.
Jane Ruhland transformed everyday street furniture into artworks, reimagining benches and bins with bold, nature-inspired graphics that reflected Northolt’s parks.
Samira Mian, an artist rooted in the community, created a striking geometric mural for Northolt Library, drawing on Islamic design traditions and her personal connection to the building.
High Street Signage was shaped directly by young people. Schools and youth groups submitted ideas for wayfinding and signage, which were then developed into a series of eight large-scale poster artworks by local creative Alaa Alsaraji. Installed on the Northolt Station bridge, they created a vibrant new gateway to the town centre, celebrating messages of kindness, pride and self-expression.
Central to the work of our team is building creative capacity in communities. Our approach ensured the process was as important as the outcomes. Through open calls, workshops and engagement sessions, we:
Built capacity and confidence among local artists and emerging creatives
Created opportunities for young people to directly shape their environment
Opened up conversations about culture, belonging and identity in a place where art is not always visible in public life
Strengthened networks of more than 70 local creatives and practitioners, creating the foundations of a future collective
Green Route
Junctions
“The Village”
The pilot projects temporarily transformed public spaces across Northolt, providing visible demonstrations of how art can activate everyday settings. They also:
Increased local pride and ownership of public realm improvements
Supported Ealing Council to test inclusive commissioning processes
Informed a long-term delivery framework that aligns with Ealing’s Cultural Manifesto and the 20-minute neighbourhood model
Helped position Northolt to access further funding for public art and creative placemaking
The Public Art Strategy now underpins over £7.2m of public realm and active travel investment in the area, ensuring creativity is embedded alongside new crossings, cycle routes, lighting and greening.
This project is a considerate demonstration of our strength in connecting strategic frameworks with creative delivery. It is evidence of the importance of bringing together deep expertise in the public realm, creative engagement and cultural strategy to design processes that: place communities in the driving seat of change, build the capacity of local creatives and young people, deliver high-quality, imaginative interventions that shape the long-term identity of a place.
For Northolt, this meant developing a strategy that is both ambitious and practical, celebrating heritage and diversity while providing clear steps for commissioning, wayfinding and future investment.
Client: Ealing Council
Location: Northolt, London
Completion: 2023