Built Environment Advisory
Specialist consulting and Non-Executive Director services for SME businesses in construction, real estate and the built environment.
What we do
We work with construction businesses, developers, contractors and professional service firms to address the challenges that limit growth — from team structure and positioning to strategic planning and stakeholder management. Advice grounded in real operational experience, not theory.
Helping businesses identify, build and convert the right client relationships. From pipeline development to bid strategy and tender positioning.
Supporting founders and directors in building the right team — organisational design, hiring, succession and leadership development for growing businesses.
Working with leadership teams to clarify direction, define competitive advantage and build the strategic foundations for sustainable growth.
Specialist advisory on building safety regulation, legacy defect remediation and compliance — drawing on direct senior leadership experience in this field.
Non-Executive Director
A well-chosen Non-Executive Director changes the quality of decisions made in a boardroom. For SME businesses in the built environment, access to that level of independent, experienced thinking is often what separates businesses that plateau from those that scale.
Laurence & Standard provides NED services to small and medium-sized businesses in construction and the wider built environment — bringing genuine sector knowledge, FTSE-level governance experience, and the commercial instincts that come from running complex programmes at pace.
We are selective in the mandates we accept, ensuring the businesses we serve receive meaningful, substantive engagement — not a ceremonial presence.
Providing the constructive challenge that executive teams often cannot provide themselves — and the support to act on it.
Introducing appropriate governance structures that protect the business and build stakeholder confidence.
Opening doors across the built environment — clients, contractors, consultants and investors.
Independent mediation and guidance when shareholder, leadership or commercial tensions arise.
Supporting founders planning exit, transition or restructure — from strategy through execution.
About us
Laurence & Standard was founded on a straightforward premise: that the best advice comes from those who have operated at the sharp end of an industry — not those who have observed it from the outside.
We bring over two decades of experience across the built environment, spanning real estate, commercial fitout, social housing and residential development. Most recently, as a Group Director at a FTSE 100 developer, leading the department responsible for remediating legacy building safety defects across a major portfolio — one of the most complex and high-stakes challenges facing the sector today.
Since establishing Laurence & Standard, we have worked with a range of clients in construction — from developers and main contractors to professional service firms — providing advisory support on growth strategy, team development and market positioning, alongside an active Non-Executive Director mandate with an SME construction group.
We work with a small number of clients at any one time, by design. That’s what genuine engagement requires.
Commercial and residential development experience across the full cycle, from acquisition and planning through to delivery and asset management.
Led remediation programmes at scale for FTSE 100 developer, engaging with regulators, leaseholders and government — a rare practical perspective on the Building Safety Act landscape.
Deep understanding of the contractor ecosystem — from specialist trades to main contractors and professional services — and how they win and retain work.
Experience working within the registered provider and social housing sector at a G15 organisation, including asset management, repairs and compliance.
Why us
Unlike generalist consultants, we speak the language of construction — tender processes, margin pressures, contractor relationships, building safety obligations and client dynamics in the built environment.
You work directly with the principal — not a junior consultant. Every engagement is treated as a priority, not a line item in a portfolio of hundreds of clients.
Advice is grounded in operational reality. We have led teams, managed budgets, navigated crises and delivered results — we know what works when the pressure is on.
Our model is designed for businesses between £2m and £200m turnover — accessible, flexible and calibrated to the resource constraints and ambitions of growing companies.
Access to the strategic frameworks, governance practices and commercial rigour of large-cap business — scaled and applied to the realities of the SME environment.
We operate with complete confidentiality. The challenges facing leadership teams in growing businesses require a trusted confidant and advisor, building a relationship of mutual trust, honesty, and openness.
Testimonials
Sectors
Commercial, residential & mixed-use
Developers & housebuilders
Fitout, M&E, facades & compliance
Project management, QS & design
RPs, ALMOs & housing associations
Investment & asset management
Remediation, compliance & regulation
Office, retail, leisure & education
Get in touch
We take on a limited number of clients at any one time. If you’re looking for substantive, sector-specific advisory support — for your business or your board — we’d be pleased to hear from you.
ben@ls-uk.com
Telephone
+44 (0)7506 594721
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