London HS2 station to get biscuit-mould tiles made from its own clay

Twelve tonnes of clay dug from a railway building site in west London will go back into the station as patterned wall tiles.

The collection, called Sweet Terrain, was created by designer Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad and maker Rafael El Baz for Old Oak Common station. It uses clay excavated during construction and moulds based on traditional biscuit tools, Dezeen reported on 14 September 2026.

Old Oak Common is a station under construction in west London. It was designed by WilkinsonEyre for HS2, the high-speed rail network, with construction images published earlier this month.

The tiles carry raised reliefs. The patterns were made with moulds modelled on the carved wooden tools used to shape Ma'amoul, small filled cookies originating in the Arab world.

Hashemi-Nezhad and El Baz developed the designs after visiting patisseries in west London. The shops belong to Middle Eastern bakers who migrated from Lebanon and Syria, and the designers studied their baking moulds and routines.

The salvaged clay came directly from the Old Oak Common site. The pair recovered 12 tonnes of the dug material and worked it into tile bodies for the station interiors.

The count runs into the thousands. The tiles are planned for the station's quieter rooms rather than the main concourses, including multi-faith zones, toilets and corridors.

Installation is due in 2028. Old Oak Common is scheduled to open in 2030.

Hashemi-Nezhad has worked with food and migration stories before. With architect Farrokh Aman, he designed the interior of Logma cafe in Hackney, east London, a project that drew on the pair's Iranian heritage, Dezeen reported in April.

What makes this stand out is the loop. Material removed to build the station returns as its lining, and a neighbourhood baking tradition becomes part of the directions passengers will walk past every day.