The Grade 2-listed Equality-Harmony mural has been “painstakingly” removed from a block being demolished for safety reasons

The Broadwater Farm mural as it looked before being removed

A beloved Broadwater Farm artwork is set to be “carefully reinstated” after it was painstakingly removed piece-by-piece from a residential block undergoing demolition.

The Equality-Harmony mural was created in 1986 by artist Gülsün Erbil in collaboration with local residents after being commissioned in the wake of the Broadwater Farm riot the year before. Its imagery celebrates the universal values of peace, equality, harmony, and community, linked by a rainbow and a musical stave running the full height of the work.

Described as an “important contemporary landmark of British social history” the mural occupied the exterior face of a five-storey concrete refuse chute on the side of Tangmere House, but faced being destroyed when the decision was taken to demolish both the Tangmere and Northolt blocks after structural faults were found shortly following the Grenfell Tower disaster.

Haringey Council is planning to build 294 new homes for council rent on the site of the blocks, as well as Stapleford North which is also being demolished, and provide a new modern health and wellbeing centre with affordable workspaces.

The work was temporarily delayed in October 2022, however, to allow officials to consider the impact of the proposals on the mural after its listed status was confirmed by Historic England.

The listing meant the mural needed to be preserved by law and restored after the demolition was complete.

Haringey Council brought in specialist conservation contractor DBR Conservation Ltd to record, repair, and conserve the mural, which is 20 metres high and five metres wide, comprised of glass, and weighs in at 50 tonnes.

DBR’s first steps were to work closely with the demolition contractor Hughes & Salvidge to erect bespoke scaffolding to the mural, allowing the company’s conservators to create a visual and tactile survey of the mural. Next, the DBR team drafted a condition report which allowed them to evaluate the condition of the mosaic and the subsequent treatment requirements needing to be carried out.

However, the work was further complicated by the ongoing demolition process, which required careful co-ordination between DBR and the demolition contractors. DBR mapped the mosaic according to the artist’s original margins, dividing the mural into a total of 21 approximately 900-millimetre height sections weighing in at 2.5 tonnes each. Following this, the dismantling process was undertaken, one section at a time, with each piece salvaged in between different demolition phases.

To ensure the historic fabric was protected during the cutting and lifting process, DBR conservators created a systematic blanket system for each section. Inspired by the mosaic protection process commonly used on salvaged Roman mosaics, a three-layered protective blanket was applied for each section.

The blanket left one strip of mosaic exposed – acting as a precise guide for the cutting blade. The cutting process for the 21 mosaic sections was described as a “triumph of collaboration” between DBR and Hughes & Salvidge. Large diamond cutting wheels were used to carefully wet cut each section. This started with a smaller blade for pilot cuts at each corner, then a larger blade was used to cut through the mass of concrete.

Before final cuts were made, the concrete sections were attached to a crane, which provided the necessary tension to ensure no wayward movement during cutting. Once all lines were cleanly cut, the crane lifted the individual 2.5-tonne mosaic sections to ground level, where DBR’s team of conservators and a forklift greeted and guided the mosaic section to an on-site purpose-built workshop.

Once dismantled, the mural was moved to the site workshop, set up by Haringey Council, where DBR has set to work on the cleaning and conservation process of the glass mural.

The DBR team is now undertaking “painstaking documentation, gentle cleaning, and delicate work” to the mural sections. Following this conservation work, the mural will be carefully reinstated in a new location on the estate.

Speaking about the project, Adrian Attwood, DBR’s executive director, said: “DBR is honoured to be involved in this project to rescue and conserve such an important landmark of London’s social heritage.

“We’re proud to have a longstanding association with Historic England and to play our part in protecting Britain’s buildings. The Broadwater peace mural is representative of the community that helped create it. The piece is a testament to the social justice campaign that followed the 1985 riots and is an important symbol of community spirit. It is only right that it is properly conserved.”

David Sherrington, programme director for Broadwater Farm at Haringey Council, said: “The Equality–Harmony mural is part of Broadwater Farm’s social and cultural history. Preserving, restoring, and celebrating the mural is important to us and the Broadwater Farm community.

“Together with our residents, we are bringing about the most wide-reaching improvements to the estate since it was built. The mural is very much part of the future of Broadwater Farm. We can’t wait to see it installed in its new home.”

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