Stu Cameron-Lee, Principal of Greenspace & Co.
Principal Auckland · NZ

Stu Cameron-Lee

M Hort Sc Hons · Soil Science & Amenity Horticulture

Stu has spent more than thirty years working in the New Zealand greenspace industry - combining academic training in soil science and amenity horticulture with deep operational experience across the council, public, and commercial sectors.

The career arc is unusual, and that’s the point.

  • Eden Park turf manager.
  • Founding director of a turf contracting and consulting company.
  • Landscape design and construction.
  • Plant broking direct to councils, trade landscapers, and the public.
  • Then fifteen years inside North Shore City Council - parks roles, project management, and maintenance contract development.

Most procurement consultants haven’t run a tender from the contractor’s side. Most technical specialists haven’t sat at the council desk. Stu has done both - and built the practice around what that perspective makes possible.

Since 2015 the work has been council-side advisory - a small client base, deep relationships, repeat engagements. Greenspace & Co. is the same practice - four pillars on a smart-systems foundation, one principal, and a brand that finally matches the work.

Why the advice holds up.

M Hort Sc Hons

Academic foundation

Master of Horticultural Science with Honours, specialising in soil science and amenity horticulture. The science under the practice.

Early career

Turf Manager, Eden Park

Operational responsibility for one of the country’s most scrutinised playing surfaces. Lessons in pressure, performance, and the gap between the brief and the conditions on the day.

Late 1990s →

Turf contracting & consulting

Founded a turf contracting and consulting company specialising in sports turf and high-end amenity. Both sides of the contract - the work being delivered and the advice being given.

Parallel

Landscape design & construction

Full-service landscape design and construction company. End-to-end delivery from concept to handover, including the awkward middle bits everyone underestimates.

Parallel

Plantman plant broking

Online plant broking direct to councils, trade landscapers, and the public. The supply-side lens - what’s actually available, at what cost, on what timeline.

15 years

North Shore City Council (parks)

Parks roles, project management, and maintenance contract development across the North Shore parks portfolio. The inside view of how councils actually work - and how the work survives a structural reorganisation.

Since 2015

Independent practice

Council-side advisory, working deeply with a small client base. Practical, client-focused solutions across the breadth of parks and open spaces services.

2026

Greenspace & Co.

Same principal, same standards, sharper focus. Four pillars - procurement, sports turf, amenity horticulture, and heritage biological advisory - on a foundation of smart systems and AI, and a brand built to match the practice.

A small list of key clients - repeat business and long-term relationships.

/ 01

Auckland Council

Parks & open spaces advisory
FIFA Women’s World Cup Training Venues 2022-23
/ 02

Christchurch City Council

Parks & open spaces advisory
/ 03

Hastings District Council

Parks & open spaces advisory
/ 04

Queenstown Lakes District Council

Parks & open spaces advisory

Two specialisms usually arrive separately - people who write tenders, and people who do the technical work. Greenspace & Co. exists where they meet.

01 / Principle

Independent. Council-side only.

No supplier panels, no preferred-contractor arrangements, no commission. The advice is independent of who ends up winning the tender or supplying the materials.

02 / Principle

Specific, not strategic-flavoured.

Reports written to be read and acted on. Recommendations costed. Specifications that reflect how the work actually gets delivered, not what looks defensible in a slide deck.

03 / Principle

Written for the people who defend the budget.

Advice that holds up in front of elected members, audit, and ratepayers. Plain language with technical detail behind it - so when someone asks the hard question, the answer’s already there.

04 / Principle

One principal. No team of strangers.

The person who quotes the work delivers the work. No offshore drafting, no rotating juniors, no handover from the partner who pitched to the analyst who delivers. The practice is the principal.

One principal - and a network of named technical specialists when the work calls for it.

Working principal-led doesn’t mean working alone. It means you know who’s doing the work - and when scope calls for specialist depth that sits outside the practice, you know who’s joining the engagement. The named partners below are the ones the practice draws on most:

Arboriculture

Arborlab Tree Consultancy

Specialist arboricultural consultancy. Where a tree assessment, urban forest strategy, or arboriculture-specific tender needs deeper technical input than a generalist can provide.

Tree services

Tend Trees

Tree management and operational expertise. Brought in for engagements that need specialist tree care knowledge alongside the broader greenspace advice.

Sports turf

4-D Greenspace Turf Consultancy

Specialist turf consultancy partner. Engaged when a sports turf engagement calls for additional technical depth or a second specialist perspective.

/ Technology Partner - Smart Systems; AI & Automation

LCC

Dedicated technology partner behind the smart systems foundation: administration and reporting automation, data analysis, and bespoke management systems for council parks teams. The reason smart systems is real practice, not aspiration.

Smart thinking, backed by qualifications, experience, and skill - without the price tag of a corporate consultancy.

Qualifications

M Hort Sc (Hons)

Master of Horticultural Science with Honours - soil science and amenity horticulture. The technical foundation that lets the advisory side be specific rather than generic.

Experience

30+ years industry

From Eden Park turf manager to North Shore City Council parks management to independent practice. Both sides of every contract - delivery, supply, and council oversight.

Practice

10+ years council-side

Independent advisory to NZ local authorities since 2015, building on fifteen years inside North Shore City Council parks. A small client base, deep relationships, repeat work.

Out of the weeds.
Into excellence.

If you’d like to talk about a piece of work, the first call is free - and you’ll know within thirty minutes whether the practice is the right fit.

Start a conversation