Case Study: Designing Metrics that Matter

Establishing the evidence base for confident intervention and change.

This engagement demonstrates Luminaire’s repeatable approach in practice: Research → Engagement → Strategy → Behaviour Change → Programs & Systems → Outcomes

Categories: 

• Capability & Capacity Uplift

• Behaviour Change

• Pilots & Proof

This case study demonstrates Luminaire’s integrated approach — combining original research, IAP2-aligned stakeholder engagement, strategy and behaviour change design — to establish metrics that matter across a complex, multi-venue government environment.

Working with a state government statutory authority, Luminaire Systems designed and delivered a defensible, intervention-ready measurement baseline across water, waste and energy. The work aligned venues and suppliers around consistent metrics, strengthened governance and Board reporting, and created the foundation required to test innovation, sustainability and business-improvement initiatives with confidence and scale.

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Context

A state government statutory authority responsible for major venues across the state sought to strengthen how sustainability performance was measured, governed and used across its portfolio.

The authority operated across multiple venues and a diverse supplier base for water, waste and energy. While sustainability commitments and initiatives were well established, existing measurement approaches were fragmented and inconsistent — limiting comparability, decision confidence and the ability to take stakeholders on a shared journey of improvement.

Luminaire was engaged to design a fit-for-purpose measurement solution as a prerequisite for effective intervention, behaviour change and future improvement initiatives, and to complete the foundational work required to enable implementation, governance and scale.

The Challenge

The challenge was not intent or ambition, but creating the conditions required for effective intervention.

Specifically:

• data inputs were sourced from multiple suppliers using different formats and assumptions

• inconsistent definitions limited reliable aggregation and comparison across venues

• reporting did not support testing, prioritising or improving sustainability or business-improvement initiatives

• Board and statutory reporting required greater clarity, consistency and assurance

  
  

Without a shared, defensible baseline, the authority could not confidently test innovation, assess outcomes, or align stakeholders around what mattered most.

Luminaire’s Role

Luminaire was engaged as solution designer and enablement partner — responsible for defining the measurement foundations required to support future behaviour change, intervention design and decision-making, and for delivering those foundations in practice.

Our role spanned:

• Research: establishing a consistent, defensible evidence baseline

• Engagement: co-designing the solution with internal teams and suppliers to ensure feasibility and adoption

• Strategy: defining measurement logic, priorities and governance use-cases

• Behaviour Change: designing metrics and reporting structures that influence decisions, incentives and accountability

• Programs & Frameworks: developing delivery-ready reporting frameworks and artefacts

What We Did

• Designed original measurement architecture across water, waste and energy

• Synthesised inputs from all venues and all major suppliers, identifying gaps, inconsistencies and risks

• Applied a co-design approach aligned with IAP2 international best-practice standards, ensuring shared ownership and practicality

• Standardised definitions, assumptions and calculations to enable defensible comparison over time

• Developed export-ready data and reporting templates suitable for governance and Board oversight

• Designed Board-level reporting aligned to statutory authority requirements

Pilots & Proof

This work functioned as a foundational pilot — establishing a robust, shared baseline against which innovation, sustainability and business-improvement interventions can be designed, tested and evaluated with confidence.

The pilot demonstrated that:

• well-designed metrics shape decisions, priorities and behaviour

• a shared baseline enables interventions to be tested and compared over time

• stakeholder confidence increases when evidence is consistent, transparent and defensible

  
  

The approach created a scalable, intervention-ready foundation applicable across venues, portfolios and jurisdictions.

Outcomes

Capability and capacity uplift to interpret and use sustainability data

• Improved governance confidence, including Board-ready reporting

• Behaviour change enabled through clearer metrics and accountability

• Consistent, comparable datasets across venues and suppliers

• A defensible, intervention-ready baseline to support pilots, targets, improvement initiatives and policy alignment

Why This Matters

This case demonstrates how Luminaire designs and enables the foundations for change — creating the evidence base required to align stakeholders, inform decisions and support future interventions, without creating operational burden.