Cripps Harries Hall has expanded its real estate team with the hire of Matthew Cox from Manches.

Cox joined the firm's Tunbridge Wells office as a partner in the property team last month (1 January) after serving almost eight years as a non-contentious partner at Manches' London arm.

Cox's clients have included WH Smith, Swarovski and BlackRock Property Fund, and at Cripps he will work closely with the firm's retail and investment team, focusing on retail development.

The team has worked on the development of a number of shopping centres owned by Hermes, Prudential and British Land, and is also in its seventh year of working with Lovells on the Mexican-Wave initiative for PRUPIM, the property management arm of Prudential.

Cripps senior partner Michael Stevens recently led a team advising on one of the largest lettings in the North of England in 2009, working with the UK Border Agency (UKBA) on its 15-year lease for 220,000 sq ft of office space in Liverpool city centre. The move will bring together the UKBA's six Merseyside sites under one roof.

Cripps portfolio property head Clare Hyland commented: "We are delighted to welcome Matthew to our busy and expanding investment and retail team. He has an impressive history of work for retail developers, landlords and tenants and we feel that his expertise is an excellent match with Cripps' reputation for real estate work."