[ foundations ]■
Built from the inside out.
Most consultancies are built by consultants. goo collective was built by an operator - someone who has run the businesses, negotiated the exits, managed the acquisitions, and delivered the projects that others now advise on from a distance.
That difference is not cosmetic. It changes the quality of every conversation, every recommendation, and every decision made on behalf of a client.
[ the story ]■
Thirty years on every side of the industry.
One firm built from all of it.
Lawrence began his career as a Quantity Surveyor, graduating into a discipline that placed commercial rigour at the centre of everything. His early years were spent as a claims consultant on some of the most complex and high-value construction contracts in Europe - advising on multi-billion pound infrastructure programmes for the governments of the United Kingdom, Italy and France, including work on one of the largest civil engineering contracts of its era.
It was an education that most project managers never receive. Claims work at that level is forensic - dissecting contracts under pressure, understanding where risk was allocated and where it was not, and learning precisely how large programmes fail commercially long before they fail visibly. That discipline has informed every piece of advice Lawrence has given since.
From infrastructure, Lawrence moved into the commercial office sector - and critically, he entered it from the contractor side. Working at the UK’s leading design and construction firm as Managing Partner, he began to understand design and architecture from the inside: how projects were priced, how margins were protected, and how the relationship between design ambition and commercial reality was managed when your firm was responsible for both.
"The experience of operating at that level produces a quality of commercial judgement that cannot be replicated in a purely advisory career."
Lawrence was subsequently approached to lead a global design and build business across the EMEA region - joining with a specific mandate to scale the European operation and position the business for acquisition. He grew it from a relative standing start to £88.5m in revenue, which brought a private equity transaction to the table that valued the business at $320m - one of the more significant transactions in the commercial interior sector in recent years.
During that period Lawrence also held executive responsibility for the North American business, and oversaw four acquisitions as part of the growth strategy - spanning specialist project management, experiential design, life sciences fit-out and high-end hospitality architecture - building and integrating senior teams across sixteen countries and more than twenty cities.
What operating at that scale makes clear, eventually, is where the gaps are. And in the commercial office sector, the gap was consistent: clients with significant projects, significant investments, and no genuinely senior, genuinely independent advisor in their corner. Someone who understood the commercial mechanics of the industry from the inside - not just the process of managing it from the outside.
Founded 2024. Thirty years of experience behind it.
What thirty years across every seat at the table makes clear is where clients are most exposed. The large firms offer resource but rarely deliver seniority at the point of delivery. The smaller independents offer focus but rarely the depth of commercial and contractual experience that complex projects demand. Neither combination protects the client the way it should.
goo collective was formed with a vision to change that. Deeply experienced. Genuinely independent.
goo collective was founded in 2024. The experience behind it spans thirty years.
The circle, monday, 2.30pmThe building gets the credit. We protect the investment that made it possible.
Behind every successful workplace project is a set of decisions that most people never see - on brief, procurement, risk, programme and cost. Those decisions, made well and early, are the difference between a project that performs and one that merely completes. That is the work we are here to do.
[ global reach, senior delivery ]■
goo collective was founded in 2024. These numbers represent the experience behind it.
30+
4
Years of Experience
Continents
16+
23+
Countries
Cities
$400m
50+
200+
$4bn
Clients
Lifetime Revenue
Industry Awards
M&A Transactions
[ Ethos ]■
Googie was an American architectural movement - angular, optimistic, unapologetically forward-facing. It stood for something at a time when the industry was playing it safe. We named the collective after it deliberately. Because the clients we work with - across the UK, Europe, and internationally - deserve an advisor built the same way.
[ awards & selected media ]■
Recognition
Selected recognition for work and contribution across Lawrence's career in the industry.
-
Keynote - CoreNet Dubai, The road to resilience, 2023
Keynote - CoreNet Dubai, Art for impact, 2023
Keynote - CoreNet Amsterdam, 2022
Forbes - Does the office still have a purpose?, 2020
Property Week contributor
Financial Times contributor -
2023
Kering Paris, France
Better Future Paris Design Awards | Interior Design – Corporate & Commercial, Gold2022
Astellas Pharma Madrid, Spain
Better Future London Design Awards | Interior Design – International Commercial, Silver
Mixology Awards | Best Workplace (15,000-30,000sqft), Finalist
SBID International Design Awards | Workplace Fit Out Project of the Year, FinalistBoston Scientific Düsseldorf, Germany
Irish Construction Industry Awards | International Project of the Year, Finalist
SBID International Design Awards | Workplace Fit Out Project of the Year, FinalistDiligent Galway, Ireland
Better Future London Design Awards | Interior Design – International Commercial, Silver
Irish Construction Industry Awards | Commercial Project of the Year, Finalist
Fit Out Awards | Project of the Year – Large Office, FinalistHudl Chiavari, Italy
SBID International Design Awards | Interior Design – Office Design Under 2,000 sqm,FinalistJust Eat Takeaway.com Dublin, Ireland
Better Future London Design Awards | Interior Design – International Commercial, Gold
IDI Awards | Architectural Design – Commercial, Finalist
Irish Construction Industry Awards | Commercial Project of the Year, FinalistJust Eat Takeaway.com Milan, Italy
Better Future London Design Awards | Interior Design – International Commercial, SilverKering Paris, France
Fast Company's Innovation by Design Awards | Best Workplace Design, Honouree
Dezeen Awards | Best Large Workspace Interior, FinalistPernod Ricard Milan, Italy
Better Future London Design Awards | Interior Design – International Commercial, Silver
SBID International Design Awards | Workplace Fit Out Project of the Year, FinalistStudio Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Better Future London Design Awards | Interior Design – International & Co-working Studio,Silver
Mixology Awards | Best Workplace (under 5,000sqft), Finalist
SBID International Design Awards | Workplace Fit Out Project of the Year, Finalist
World Interior News Awards | Studio or Co-working Space of the Year, FinalistStudio Zurich, Switzerland
Better Future London Design Awards | Interior Design – International & Co-working Studio, Gold
Design Week Awards | Workplace Interior of the Year, Finalist
Mixology Awards | Best Workplace (5,000-15,000sqft), Finalist
SBID International Design Awards | Workplace Fit Out Project of the Year, Finalist
World Interior News Awards | Studio or Co-working Space of the Year, FinalistThe Reluctant Returner EMEA
Content Awards | B2B Content Campaign of the Year
Content Awards | Integrated Content Campaign of the Year
Content Marketing Awards | Best B2B Campaign
The Drum Awards | Best Response to ChangeUniphar Dublin, Ireland
Fit Out Awards | Project of the Year – Medium Office, Finalist
Irish Construction Industry Awards | Commercial Project of the Year, Finalist2021
Boston Scientific Clonmel, Ireland
DRIVENxDESIGN | Corporate & Commercial, Gold
SBID International Design Awards | Workplace Fit Out Project of the Year, Finalist
Mixology Awards | Project of the Year, WinnerCoty Amsterdam, The Netherlands
DRIVENxDESIGN | Corporate & Commercial, GoldStudio London, United Kingdom
DRIVENxDESIGN | Co-working & Studio Space, Silver
FX Awards | Project of the Year, Winner
Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents | Gold
[ let's start ]■
goo collective is deeply experienced, and genuinely independent. We take on the work we are right for, and we stay close to it from the first conversation to the last. If you are working on something complex, high-value, or high-stakes - and you want a consultancy that will protect your interests with the same seriousness you bring to the project - we would like to hear from you.