diff --git a/R/general_help.R b/R/general_help.R
index 2d34ffe1f..243def437 100644
--- a/R/general_help.R
+++ b/R/general_help.R
@@ -1149,11 +1149,13 @@ readPolygonFilesVizgenHDF5 = function(boundaries_path,
 #' can be selected.
 #' @param file parquet file to load
 #' @param z_index either 'all' or a numeric vector of z_indices to get polygons for
+#' @param calc_centroids calculate centroids for the polygons (default = TRUE)
 #' @param verbose be verbose
 #' @keywords internal
 #' @export
 readPolygonVizgenParquet = function(file,
                                     z_index = 'all',
+                                    calc_centroids = TRUE,
                                     verbose = TRUE) {
 
   # package checks
@@ -1223,6 +1225,12 @@ readPolygonVizgenParquet = function(file,
       spatVector = sv,
       unique_ID_cache = poly_table$EntityID
     )
+
+    if(isTRUE(calc_centroids)) {
+      # NOTE: will not recalculate if centroids are already attached
+      gpoly = .calculate_centroids_polygons(gpolygon = gpoly, append_gpolygon = TRUE)
+    }
+
   })
 
   return(out)