Lawrence is a Fellow and Prizeman of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)*. He began his career in property with Johnston Evans, surveyors, in 1959. In 1964 Lawrence joined DeGroot Collis, a major firm of surveyors and valuers, and in 1967 became a salaried partner, running their Holborn Office.
In 1970 he set up his own consultancy, Lawrence Bloom King & Co (subsequently Bloom King Main) in the City of London. Through a new and dynamic approach, the firm soon became the leading small agency in the City. During this time Lawrence acted for the IPC Group, Touche Ross, Legal & General, and many other major financial institutions and developers. He was a frequent keynote speaker at property seminars presented by The Financial Times and Investors Chronicle. He also sat on the Editorial Advisory Board of The Estates Times.
By the mid 1980s Lawrence was a director of Land Investors, where he was responsible for building the new headquarters of the National Bank of Kuwait in the West End of London, and the Bayerische Landesbank adjoining the Broadgate Development in the City of London. He then moved on to become Managing Director (and subsequently Deputy Chairman) of Land & Property Trust, where he managed a £150m property portfolio.
In 1990 Lawrence was appointed by the new Japanese owners of the Inter-Continental Hotel Group to take charge of its worldwide property portfolio, then valued at US$2.9bn. He sat on the five-strong Executive Committee, prepared a paper for separating the asset base from the operational arm of the organisation, and was responsible for planning major developments.
In 1992 he set up Forus Investments in partnership with Dieter Bock (at that time Joint Chairman and Chief Executive of Lonrho Plc) and arranged the joint venture with Lord Palumbo to redevelope No.1 Poultry in the City of London. After the completion of this project in 1995, Lawrence travelled extensively to further deepen his understanding of the issues surrounding a sustainable future for society and humanity. Returning formally to business in 2006, Lawrence has taken two non-executive positions, as Deputy Chairman of Noble Cities plc. and Chairman of Connolly & Callaghan.