Empirical Advisory
em·pir·i·cal Based on evidence and experience.
Helping you navigate the critical nexus between projects, people, and politics.
Providing strategic advice for government agencies, alliances and councils delivering major infrastructure throughout Australia.
Our story
We started Empirical Advisory after more than a decade inside major infrastructure programs. We’d been in the room for the hard calls: what to include in scope, how to buy it, and how to explain it to a minister, a board and a community.
The pattern was consistent. Projects rarely struggled because of the engineering. They struggled because no one saw the problem coming until it was in the papers, on a minister’s desk or in a contractor’s claim.
That’s the gap we fill. Our edge is reading the play early. We pick up the issue while it’s still a murmur in a working group, the commercial risk before it’s priced in, and the political shift before it lands.
We bring an insider’s view to the early decisions, and help clients hold their ground when scrutiny arrives.
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Johanna Marsh, Founder and Managing Director
What we bring
Our experience was built on the inside. For more than 13 years we’ve worked in government-owned corporations, contractors and advisory firms, in roles that sit between the executive, the board, government and the delivery team.
We’ve led strategy, issues and reputation management for one of Australia’s largest infrastructure investments, and supported its CEO’s dealings with the Australian Government. We’ve prepared executives for Senate Estimates, written board submissions and built performance and reporting regimes.
On the commercial side, we’ve given transaction advice on a $4 billion PPP, analysed claims and administered contracts. We’ve also run executive interface committees with contractors and led capital investment programs, from organisational design to resource planning.
We don’t advise from the outside. We’ve held the roles our clients hold, and we know what gets approved, what gets challenged and what falls over.
Our services
Strategy & business cases
We shape program strategy and the case for investment, matching what government wants with what can be delivered.
Commercial advice
We create packaging strategies to maximise market engagement, advise on transactions, contract performance, and commercial instruments.
Program & project management
We lead programs and projects from scoping to delivery, including resourcing, organisational design and reporting.
Governance
We set up governance that boards and executives rely on, with transparent reporting, clear accountability and papers that get to the point.
Interface management
We run the interfaces between owners, contractors and government, so issues surface early and get resolved at the right level.
Corporate affairs
We manage strategic issues, reputation and stakeholder relationships, from ministers and councils to landholders and communities.
Our experience
We've been doing this for 13 years now, on some of Australia's largest infrastructure projects. We have our fingers on the pulse and our ears to the ground, so you can trust us to bring world-class strategic advice and problem solving to your project, whatever the scale. Our process fosters collaboration and innovation to ensure we not only understand the core needs of clients, but that all critical stakeholders are taken on the journey. After all, what good is a cracker strategy if no one has buy in?
On the owner’s side
We’ve led strategy and corporate affairs for a national rail program, reporting to the CEO. We know what a board will test, what a minister will be asked, and how to get a decision through both.
On the contractor’s side
We’ve advised on commercial positions and administered contracts for a tier 1 contractor. We know where the other side’s pressure points sit, which makes interfaces faster and negotiations shorter.
Across the transaction
We’ve advised on a $4 billion road PPP and shaped packaging strategies for Inland Rail and SunCable’s Australia-Asia PowerLink. We package work the market can price, so you get competitive bids instead of risk premiums.
In the community
We’ve run engagement and place management on rail, road and justice projects in Queensland and NSW. Our strategies hold up.
Projects include Inland Rail, SunCable’s Australia-Asia PowerLink, the Suburban Roads Upgrade, Cross River Rail, Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 2, the Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal, the Beaudesert Town Centre Bypass and the new Grafton Correctional Centre.
CROSS RIVER RAIL
GOLD COAST LIGHT RAIL
INLAND RAIL
MOUNT LINDESAY HWY BEAUDESERT BYPASS
GRAFTON CORRECTIONAL CENTRE
