Five of Australia and the UK’s most experienced infrastructure consultants are launching their own boutique advisory firm to tackle the policy failings and poor culture they say is rampant in the industry.

Drawing on experience from the public and private sectors – most of the firm’s 20-plus staff come from the federal government’s Infrastructure Australia or consultancy HKA – the five founders of Avista Strategy say the sector needs to “fundamentally change” some of its practices to handle the boom in work coming its way.