IN Brief:
- SEGRO has leased 18,444 sq ft at SEGRO Park Redhouse Road in Croydon.
- The site will support pathology testing for around 400 GP practices.
- The hub is designed to centralise testing, accelerate turnaround times, and reduce pressure on hospital laboratories.
SEGRO has leased 18,444 sq ft of warehouse space at SEGRO Park Redhouse Road in Croydon to an NHS pathology network serving south west London and the surrounding region.
The combined two-unit facility will include laboratory space for testing samples collected from around 400 GP practices across Surrey, south London, and south west London. The hub will support a hospital network including St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, and Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust.
By centralising testing processes, the facility is expected to improve efficiency and accelerate turnaround times for GP test samples. The hub will also reduce pressure on existing hospital pathology laboratories, support cost savings, and release space within the NHS estate.
SEGRO Park Croydon Redhouse Road is located close to Croydon town centre and provides access to Central London, the M25, and wider south London routes. The development comprises seven high-quality BREEAM Excellent units, with EPC A-rated space and sustainability measures including photovoltaic panels, EV charging points, and cycle shelters.
Modern healthcare logistics increasingly depends on industrial space that can support controlled flows, regulated handling, and service-critical operations. Pathology networks need fast sample movement, reliable vehicle access, laboratory-ready space, and resilient utilities. When those activities are forced into constrained hospital buildings, operational pressure can spread across clinical and estate functions.
Moving suitable diagnostic and support operations into modern industrial space gives healthcare providers a way to increase throughput without simply expanding hospital footprints. The warehouse becomes part of the healthcare process, supporting sample intake, testing workflows, staff movement, and outbound reporting speed.
Specialist healthcare logistics has been expanding across other temperature-sensitive and regulated markets. RealCold’s move into pharmaceutical logistics showed how chain-of-custody controls, temperature monitoring, and compliant facilities are becoming stronger parts of supply chain infrastructure. The Croydon pathology hub sits in a different part of healthcare, but it is driven by the same requirement for controlled, reliable, and efficient operations.
Location is central to the model. A pathology hub serving hundreds of GP practices and multiple NHS trusts needs to sit within a geography that supports frequent collections, fast access, and manageable transport routes. Croydon’s position gives the facility proximity to dense healthcare demand while keeping testing activity outside hospital estate pressure points.
The sustainability specification also carries operating weight. Laboratories and logistics facilities can be energy-intensive, particularly where specialist equipment, controlled environments, and extended operating hours are involved. On-site photovoltaic generation and lower-carbon building features can help reduce running costs while supporting public-sector decarbonisation goals.
Healthcare estates are being pushed to use space more efficiently while demand for diagnostics continues to grow. SEGRO’s Croydon lease shows how modern warehouse assets can support clinical operations beyond conventional storage and distribution. The boundary between healthcare infrastructure and logistics property is narrowing, and pathology is becoming one of the clearest examples.
