GLP's UK boss on industrial's critical importance; AEW changes France head of asset management; LSH appoints planning policy director

"I believe the future is positive for our sector," says Bruce Topley, the UK boss of industrial warehouse investor-developer GLP. With a "healthy customer and vacancy story", Topley says the industry has returned to pre-COVID leasing levels, adding future activity levels are buoyed by a "broad-church of customers" on the lookout for Grade A accommodation.

He adds that GLP will continue to work towards getting the balance right between building and acquiring new schemes, insisting that the first rates cut earlier this year was "very much welcome", and should translate into increased investment volumes in the months ahead.

While the outlook for industrial is encouraging, Topley tells CoStar News he would like the sector to adapt its messaging to ensure it is recognised as "critical national infrastructure", emphasising the role it can play in the country's work toward generating green energy and achieving net zero.

He adds: "It surely is incumbent on our sector to communicate what we do properly. We all try and do the right thing for our businesses, our communities in a responsible way and, though organisations like the British Property Federation, we can communicate and collaborate with government so we can work together delivering what is important for the country as a whole."

You can read the full interview with Bruce Topley, including the group's ambitions to grow "Europe's largest dedicated logistics and distribution park", here.

Real estate investor and asset manager AEW has recruited Laetitia Archambault from Pimco Real Estate to be its head of asset management in France. Archambault, who was with her former employer for almost seven years, will be based in Paris and report to Raphaël Brault, CIO Europe and head of France. She has 20 years of experience in real estate asset management, starting her career at DTZ Asset Management and then joining Pimco, previously Allianz Real Estate, in 2016. Archambault was made Pimco head of development and asset management for France and the Netherlands in 2022. Brault said: "The experience Laetitia has gained throughout her career will be invaluable."

LSH has appointed Helen Reid as director in its economics and planning policy team, where she will expand capacity and offer specialist advice supporting clients across development. Reid is a chartered town planner with more than 18 years’ experience in the planning and economics industry. She has spent the last nine years working in consultancy, advising on policy and economics for public and private sector clients. These include the Ministry of Housing Levelling Up and Communities, Homes England, local planning authorities and developers and landowners. Prior to this, Reid spent nine years working in local authority planning policy teams specialising in evidence base production.

Nick Blevins has joined Knight Frank to become its head of life sciences and innovation agency. Blevins joins as a partner from Cushman & Wakefield, where he has worked since 2014, having been appointed as head of life science occupier representation in 2021, with a specific focus on Cambridge and the Golden Triangle markets. He will take over from Emma Goodford, one of the industry's best-known advisers, who will leave Knight Frank next spring.

Blevins will lead Knight Frank’s life sciences and innovation team, focusing on expansion in core markets across the Golden Triangle, drawing on his particularly extensive experience in the Cambridge market.

British Land has appointed Kelly Cleveland, its current head of strategy and investment, to a combined role of head of real estate and investment, taking on a position vacated by Darren Richards, who is leaving for fellow listed real estate giant LondonMetric. Richards, who was head of real estate, will join LondonMetric Property as chief investment officer and report to chief executive Andrew Jones. He has been a member of British Land's executive committee since 2014 and previously worked at Pillar Property. Cleveland joined British Land in 2011 and became head of strategy and investment in 2022. She will take on her new role in at British Land in mid-October.

Experienced London lettings agent Charlotte Russell is joining built-to-rent provider Sigma Capital from JLL, where she becomes lettings director, leading its portfolio in London and the South. Russell joined the team earlier this month, leaving her former employer after 14 years. She held various roles at JLL, including London lettings area director and has more than 20 years of real estate experience overall. At Sigma she will lead on developing lettings strategies for its build-to-rent assets in the South, "overseeing implementation and driving rental activity to ensure a smooth process". Russell was a lettings negotiator at Cluttons in its London team between 2009 and 2011, according to her LinkedIn profile.

UKREiiF, the group behind the Leeds-based property conference, has appointed Lord Richard Harrington as its advisory group chair. The organisation said Lord Harrington, who was made a life peer in 2022, will help with its growth strategy after it was bought by French information services firm Infopro Digital in July. Alongside his role in chairing the UKREiiF Advisory Group, he will "help advise around key growth areas for the business".

He has 30 years’ experience in the real estate business across leisure, residential, and commercial and is also chair of Regal, one of London’s leading residential-led, mixed-use developers. His political career began after he was elected in 2019 as the MP for Watford for the Conservative Party.