Hammonds has continued its recent real estate hiring spree with the appointment of four senior lawyers including former Halliwells partner Mark Gaffney.

Gaffney has joined the UK top 25 firm as a partner in Manchester as one of four new hires to Hammonds' built environment group, which covers property, planning and construction.

Gaffney was formerly a partner in Halliwells' Liverpool office, prior to which he led Mace & Jones' property practice in the city.

David Spinks also joins the Manchester property team as a senior associate from local firm Goodman Harvey.

At the same time, Addleshaw Goddard's former City real estate head John Leake has joined Hammonds in Leeds.

Leake left Addleshaws in 2009 and was most recently a consultant at GMI Property Holdings where he managed the company's development projects. He is likely to bring GMI as a new client for Hammonds.

In addition, Guy Sacket has joined Hammonds' City arm as a senior associate from Nabarro.

The new recruits come in the wake of a trio of hires earlier this year – Oliver Goodwin, the former head of planning and environment at Mishcon de Reya; former SJ Berwin partner Patrick Ryan; and former Eversheds property partner Simon Taylor. Goodwin and Ryan joined as partners while Taylor joined as consultant.

Hammonds real estate head Liam Buckley said: "The real estate market is still facing challenging times especially with the cut in public spending adding pressure to the country's continuing economic uncertainty, but we see property remaining a large component of the UK legal market."

He added: "While some firms have had their faith shaken, in the long term we think property is the right practice to be in across the regions and the City. We are lucky that we are able to afford making investments at this stage in the cycle and we are now on the lookout to attract similar talent to the firm."