Liliya Larcombe, Head of EMEA Logistics Client Relations at CBRE Investment Management

“Our asset management business is undergoing a revolution.” According to Liliya Larcombe, now Head of EMEA Logistics Client Relations at CBRE IM, the logistics real estate world is experiencing profound upheaval. “Geopolitical, technological, environmental, societal..., these changes have two types of consequences in our day-to-day professional lives, she explains. On the one hand, they create uncertainty and therefore concern among all economic players. On the other, they push us back to the fundamentals of our professions: human relationships.” For her, the goal is indeed to restore trust in a complex environment for shippers, and therefore also for logistics providers and, consequently, for logistics real estate players. “All these worlds are interconnected, she reminds us. Our role is therefore to stay ahead of market trends and our clients’ needs. We must go beyond real estate asset management alone and support them more broadly by understanding their constraints, beyond their warehouse. This means drawing on knowledge not only from logistics, but also from the retail, residential and office sectors, because at CBRE IM, our cross-sector perspective helps us take a holistic view.”

This vision of the interdependence of different worlds and the importance of communication at every level undoubtedly stems from her atypical career path in logistics real estate. After earning a degree in economics in Kazakhstan, and fluent in several languages (Kazakh, Russian and English), Liliya Larcombe came to France and discovered the world of logistics real estate at Prologis. “I had no professional experience and barely spoke French. So I started out as an assistant, she recalls. My responsibilities evolved over time. I completed a master’s degree in commercial real estate through distance learning and obtained RICS certification.” She ultimately became a Senior Leasing Officer.

In 2019, one month before the lockdown, Liliya Larcombe joined CBRE IM. “It was on the eve of an incredible period, she comments. We had to reinvent ourselves and find solutions to keep working despite the distance, while the real estate sector was suffering, whether in retail, offices, housing or logistics.” Later, in 2022, CBRE IM decided to create a business division for each asset class, so it could deepen its investor-operator approach and offer the same value and service to investor clients and operator clients alike. “I was then given the opportunity to build a team of 10 people dedicated to logistics and implement this new strategy. This constant evolution can be unsettling for some people. For me, as a woman in logistics real estate, it is stimulating!”.

Appointed Head of EMEA Logistics Client Relations in summer 2025, Liliya Larcombe continues to expand her knowledge of the environment in which her clients operate, whether they are logistics providers such as GXO, Geodis and DHL, or shippers such as Carrefour, Decathlon and Auchan. “Every day, I spend at least an hour reading specialist publications, she explains. This strategic monitoring enables me to understand all their constraints. CBRE IM is present across all segments, and this cross-product expertise benefits everyone, particularly logistics players. What happens in retail, for example, has consequences for the supply chain, which is itself affected by housing and offices. It is this global reach and ability to forge links between different sectors and markets that enable us to anticipate change and help our clients adapt.”

For her, the key remains communication, both internally and externally, formally and informally. “My day-to-day work goes beyond simply contacting our occupiers to collect rent. We need to know what is happening in the market, in terms of asset searches, transactions, real estate development, and also the economic health of the various sectors. We are also there to guide them toward a proper understanding of their own needs.” For Liliya Larcombe, the asset manager’s role is therefore also to support clients through the societal changes they are experiencing.

Out of an instinct for self-preservation, all the stronger in the current economic climate, real estate players are wary of transparency. “They fear it will erode their competitive advantage, Liliya Larcombe understands. We must therefore succeed in collecting and compiling data and information that will be useful to everyone, while preserving the confidentiality of those who agree to share it.” And to achieve this, human relationships and dialogue are essential. “I have an example in mind that shows just how much our role has evolved in recent years.” Some time ago, one of CBRE IM’s tenants, which manages more than 8 million square meters of pure logistics space in Europe, called her to announce its departure. After speaking with the company, she understood that it had launched a tender process among logistics providers to outsource this activity and focus on its core business. “As it happened, I was already in contact with a provider seeking to connect with this tenant. I was able to put them in touch, and our client included it in the tender process, in complete confidence. We thus formed a human blockchain, far more effective than if we had entrusted this management to automated tools.”

For Liliya Larcombe, technological tools and Artificial Intelligence should support, help and speed things up, but they can never replace what lies at the heart of her profession: human relationships. “In a context of uncertainty such as the one we are currently going through, people are needed to rebuild trust and seize development opportunities.”