A piece of public sculpture salvaged from a Falmouth skip will star alongside works by Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore in an exhibition opening today at Somerset House in London.

The 21 fibreglass panels by artist Paul Mount, part of an enormous facade which once graced the former Leo's supermarket at Ponsharden, will take centre stage at an exhibition of Britain's forgotten public art.

Local product designer Nick Dobson moved to Falmouth in 2007 and was struck by the building. He said: "I saw that supermarket and I thought 'that's pretty crazy, and special. What an amazing thing that is.'"

When the supermarket was taken over by Sainsbury's in 2009, Nick pressed for the work to be saved, backed by the 20th Century Society he appealed to English Heritage to have it listed as well as pleading with Falmouth Town Council, but they were removed and he was left to salvage what he could.

Nick, a graduate of the Royal College of Art, said: "I spoke at Falmouth Town council chambers but the then-mayor said 'You either love them or hate them, and as far as I am concerned they are of no artistic merit.'"

Nick added: "It was a lovely, interesting building and now we've got a rendered white box."

"The Angel of the North has 251 square metres surface area, and the panels were 635 square metres. It's probably the largest sculpture in England and they just threw it away."

English Heritage turned down his application for listing under their 40 year rule, but was told by Sainsbury's site manager that the could take what he liked, and managed to save around 60 of the 220 panels.

Together with his friend Ben Baker the panels were moved off site, and taken to paid storage before being placed at two of Nick's properties, where they have been kept since.

Trying to find a new home for them, he called the Eden Project, and said they told him "people offer us stuff all the time" before hanging up, and he also had several fruitless conversations with the Penryn Campus.

Now it is due to be the star in the first show by Historic England, the successor to English Heritage, which i shunting for other pieces of art lost to the public.

Nick said: "It seems quite special. What I've always really wanted to do was find a new home for it.

"But there's a cost implication. We would need to site it, and money to install it, and some of them need a little TLC."

For those looking to see a little bit of Paul Mount sculpture a bit closer to home, Nick said there is still a piece of the artist's work near Grove Place in Falmouth: "Opposite the obelisk, at Arwenack Manor, just inside the courtyard is a steel globe. That's a Paul Mount sculpture."