Mills & Reeve has hired two real estate partners from Pinsent Masons in Manchester, including the office's head of property, Mike Edge.

Real estate partner Rachel Pitman is joining Edge in making the move to the national firm.

Edge has been head of property at Pinsents' Manchester base since March 2010, when he joined from Halliwells, not long before that firm's collapse into administration.

The duo worked together at Halliwells, with Pitman following Edge to Pinsents during the summer of 2010 as Halliwells completed the break-up and sale of its business.

Mills & Reeve national real estate head Beverley Firth said: "Manchester's real estate sector has demonstrated its strength and resilience in the face of challenging economic times and the uncertainty caused by Brexit. Residential developments have fared particularly well; the recent Deloitte Crane Survey recorded 22 new developments starting on site in the northwest in the past year, up from the previous high of 14 in 2008, surpassing even pre-recession levels.

"We believe now is the ideal time to invest in our practice in the northwest. The appointment of Mike and Rachel will help us achieve our aim of growing our real estate team to help businesses and organisations in the northwest assure further strong growth."

Pinsents said: "We can confirm that Mike and Rachel are leaving the firm and wish them all the best."

Pinsents is currently undertaking a redundancy consultation affecting all of its UK legal personal assistants, with up to 100 jobs set to go. The review is due to be completed by the end of November. The firm enjoyed a strong 2016-17, posting turnover of £423.1m, an increase of 11%, while profit per equity partner (PEP) rose 14% to £625,000.

Mills & Reeve also boosted PEP during 2016-17, up 7.8% to £403,000, while revenue grew 6.9% to a new record high of £93.2m.