St James's Hospital: First look as new state-of-the-art pathology laboratory opens in Leeds

Named the Centre for Laboratory Medicine, the facility will also become home to some pathology services from Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust as part of a wider regional pathology services transformation programme.

Located at St James’s Hospital, work has been completed by BAM Construction and once operational, the new laboratory will help to transform diagnostic services and testing right across West Yorkshire.

Dame Linda Pollard, Chair of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “I am incredibly proud to see that this fantastic new facility has been finished. Pathology plays a crucial role in the delivery of frontline care and I am excited to see how, together with our colleagues in Calderdale and Mid Yorkshire, we can really drive innovative diagnostic testing across West Yorkshire.

“This impressive new building is a key milestone in our wider capital investment programme, as we start to progress our plans for a new hospital at the LGI. The completion of our new pathology laboratory is a catalyst for our proposed innovation village when the Old Medical School is vacated, bringing far-reaching economic benefits for the whole region.”

Construction began in April 2022 and has seen 338 pieces of glass fitted to form the windows and a further 1,357 individual rainscreen cladding panels fitted to the façade.

Currently, most of the Trust’s pathology services are delivered from outdated facilities in the Old Medical School at the Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) as well as from St James’s Hospital.

The new building will bring many of these services together into one purpose-built facility and once vacated, the Old Medical School will be repurposed as part of a plan to use surplus estate at the LGI to develop an innovation village which is expected to deliver up to 4,000 new jobs, more than 500 new homes and almost £13bn in net present value.

The building will become fully operational in 2024 following the installation of new equipment and technology and plans for an official opening are being made for autumn.

Construction of a new Acute Hospital Laboratory has also completed at the Leeds General Infirmary to provide essential pathology testing facilities to support clinical services when the main pathology services at the LGI relocate to the new laboratory at St James’s.