Manor Royal Central Superhub
2025
The intent of the Superhub project was to turn an uninspiring space into an interesting and usable place, combining a modern looking, more inviting and larger bus shelter with attractive public realm and complementary facilities for both bus users and the wider Manor Royal community.
The idea came from Manor Royal BID who had an aspiration to enhance the public realm at key gateways into and around the Business District. The design intent was for the superhub to be more than just a functional bus shelter by creating a departure lounge feel to help transform the way we think about catching a bus and to be more imaginative about the spaces around the shelter so they would become a destination in their own right.
Manor Royal Central is a busy westbound bus stop in a highly visible location and was delivered as a pilot project to prove the concept and, hopefully, inform other future superhubs at other Manor Royal locations.
Located on the south side of Manor Royal road at the site of the westbound Manor Royal Central bus stop, near to the intersection of Faraday Road and Connect Way. Zone 3 (Red)
The artwork is called “Keki’s Fusion” and is a tribute to the artists father (Keki) who worked in Manor Royal at Rediffusion (a flight simulation and pilot training company) from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s. Throughout the entirety of this time, Karl (the artist) grew up with fond peripheral associations and memories of the company. These subtle company and branding nods bled through into his everyday life and, now, to this sculpture.
The sculpture itself is a striking 6.1‑metre geodesic form inspired by the Rediffusion “star” and the artist’s childhood associations with the company. Conceived as “a celebration of fatherhood,” it blends mathematical precision with personal history, using copper‑coloured facets to echo the communication systems his father once worked on. Designed to be admired from all angles, the artwork acts as a beacon within the new Superhub, symbolising progress, memory and the generations who have shaped Manor Royal.
Artist: Karl Singporewala
The tripod legs of the sculpture, while slender in nature and secondary to the main ‘object’, are sheaved round hollow steel sections in the spirit of pistons which carried Rediffusion Simulation flight cockpits. Manor Royal has a long history of pilot training and flight simulation that continues to this day.
Karl Singporewala, the artist and architect, was born and went to school in Crawley, where he still lives. The artwork is secretly a tribute to his father‑and‑son memories, hidden in plain sight as a futuristic geometric landmark.
