About

Based in Auckland and working nationwide across New Zealand, Lawton Advisory provides specialist advisory and landscape services across planning, consenting, commercial strategy, and project delivery.

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

The approach combines landscape expertise with real-world construction and project delivery experience, ensuring advice is practical, cost aware, and aligned with how projects are actually delivered.

Cora’s career has spanned the full project lifecycle, from early planning and consenting through to pricing, procurement, construction delivery, and governance. This breadth of experience allows risk to be identified early, before it becomes costly to unwind.

Full Project Lifecycle Experience

Earlier in her career, Cora practised as a landscape architect, working on projects requiring navigation of planning frameworks, resource consent processes, landscape and environmental considerations, and stakeholder engagement.

That experience now underpins the advisory work, providing a clear understanding of how early planning and consenting decisions impact feasibility, buildability, programme, and cost.

Commercial & Construction Experience

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 ensures advice is grounded in real delivery outcomes, not theoretical models.

Landscape Planning & Assessment

Alongside advisory services, I provide specialist landscape planning, assessment, and revegetation support for resource consent and rural development projects.

This includes landscape and visual assessments, peer review, and implementation-focused planting strategies aligned with project delivery.

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

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 Typically Engage

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

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