About

Based in Auckland and working nationwide across New Zealand.

Experience across planning, consenting, commercial strategy and delivery.

Lawton Advisory is led by Cora Lawton, a senior built-environment professional with over 20 years’ experience working across landscape architecture, resource consenting, commercial management and construction delivery.

My career has spanned the full project lifecycle — from early planning and consenting through to pricing, procurement, construction delivery and governance. That breadth of experience allows me to identify risk early, before it becomes expensive to unwind.

A full-lifecycle perspective

Earlier in my career, I practised as a landscape architect, working on projects that required navigation of planning frameworks, resource consent processes, landscape and environmental considerations, and stakeholder engagement.

That front-end experience now underpins my advisory work.

I understand how early decisions around planning, design and consenting directly affect feasibility, buildability, programme and cost — and how those decisions often carry through to disputes, delays and overruns during delivery.

Commercial realism, not theory

Alongside my planning and design background, I have extensive experience in commercial and construction environments, including:

  • Pricing and tender strategy

  • Contract and scope risk management

  • Procurement and subcontractor strategy

  • Construction delivery oversight

  • Board and governance-level decision-making

This combination of skills means advice is grounded in real delivery outcomes, not theoretical models.

Open notebook with handwritten notes, a pair of glasses and a pen resting on it, placed next to a laptop on a wooden desk.

How I work

Lawton Advisory operates on a clear set of principles:

  • Independent and impartial advice

  • No construction delivery

  • No advising both sides on the same project

  • Clear scope and upfront fees

  • Advice tailored to decision points, not templates

My role is to support better decisions — not to create dependency or complexity.

When Clients Engage Lawton Advisory

Clients typically engage me when they:

  • are committing significant capital

  • are navigating complex planning or consenting environments

  • want a second set of senior eyes before committing to a contract

  • need experienced commercial support without a full-time hire

If the decision matters, that’s usually the right time to talk.

A calculator resting on sheets of paper with graphs and charts, on a desk or table.
Top-down view of a person's hands with a watch, clasped together on a white desk next to a silver laptop and a small green potted plant in the upper left corner. 
Most project problems are created early

My role is to help clients see them — and address them — before they become costly.

Contact us

Interested in working together? Fill out some info and I will be in touch shortly.