Listed professional services firm Knights will bring staff in the south east together in a new flagship office building.

The office at new-build Edwards Street Quarter in Brighton will house a team of more than 200 people and offers the chance to recruit more lawyers.

Existing offices in Brighton’s Prince Albert Street and Crawley will close as part of the move, which is set to be completed in September.

Darren Walker, client services director for Knights in the south east, said the new office gives the firm a platform for further expansion across the region and to work with clients in Sussex, London and beyond.

Walker said: ‘We’re recruiting talent to join us in Brighton, and across all of our offices, to help us to build even more scale, capability and relationships. As part of that growth we’re bringing in some top talent in the coming months, and we’re looking for more ambitious professionals to join us.’

The £120m city centre Edward Street Quarter development also includes new homes, retail, leisure and hospitality.

Knights has not said how many people it expects to recruit but said the teams in Brighton and Crawley will be united after the lease expired on the Crawley office.

The firm has continued its rapid expansion in the last month, purchasing Carlisle practice Baines Wilson and Newcastle-based St James Law Limited to take the number of acquisitions to 21 since floating on the stock exchange in 2018.

* Meanwhile, distributed firm arch.law has announced the opening of a ‘collaboration hub’ in Leeds, in the city’s East Parade. It is the ninth site for the new model firm, which is led by former DWF chief executive Andrew Leaitherland.

Arch.law offers other firms or individuals the chance to form their own personal service company as a sub-contractor and keep the majority of the fees billed.