Who we are

Our people

We like to think of ourselves as a team of creative and knowledgeable individuals who care passionately about producing and delivering great New Zealand architecture for a wide variety of clients.

With 3 Directors and 2 Associates in our leadership team, and experienced people working together from 5 offices across the country, we have the infrastructure, senior expertise and in-depth knowledge that comes from an established firm with a rich history.

Whether it's a renovation, refurbishment or a new build you're after, we can help.

Meet our team below.

Team photo of the DLA leadership team.

A little history

DLA Architects founders Bruce Dickson and Barry Lonergan.

From its humble beginnings DLA is now a nationwide practice, and now has a passionate team of architects and designers who specialise in large scale dairy and food processing design, through to commercial and industrial builds and interior fit-outs, and major healthcare, residential and educational projects.

Dickson Lonergan Architects (DLA) was founded in Whanganui in 1974 with founding partners Bruce Dickson (retired) and the late Barry Lonergan. Once fully established in the Whanganui region, DLA then started to expand the business, first into Wellington in 1999 with Barry and Glenn starting up the capital city office. Then came an office in Timaru headed by Murray Ackroyd in 2005 and the further expansion to Hamilton in 2010 with Martin Swann. The opportunity then arose to open an Auckland office in 2015 with Alana Norris moving north from Wellington. In 2011 Kirsten Crawford moved from the Waikato to develop our presence in the Bay of Plenty, and we opened premises in Tauranga in 2022.