Henry Davis York has appointed Harshane Kahagalle, a former special counsel at Freehills, as a partner in its property, environment & projects group.

Kahagalle said that he was currently seeing some positive early signs in the planning and property development cycle. “We on the planning and approval side are the first to see the pick up in the development cycle after the financial crisis - though it is not back at boom time levels,” Kahagalle said. “Firms are securing approvals and responding positively to the new market developments.” Kahagalle said the growth in planning work was particularly focused in commercial and larger scale residential development, but also mining projects.

Kahagalle told ALB he joined HDY because he was attracted by the number and quality of specialist partners in the group. He added that the firm’s property practice, with its strong government client base, was relatively less affected by the financial crisis.