Australian light-impact specialists, we translate measurement and modelling into practical guidance that supports compliance, ecological care, and design intent.
Artificial Light Impact Assessments (ALIA) quantify how artificial light affects the natural environment, helping projects meet planning and environmental requirements while maintaining safety, function and design integrity.
Our team captures, models, and maps light at night, including its intensity, distribution, spectrum, and timing. We use calibrated imaging, photometric modelling and GIS analysis. We quantify both individual sources and cumulative effects to reveal where light is present, how far it travels and which habitats are most sensitive.
We then turn data into action. Our assessments translate findings into practical, defensible recommendations. We help teams mitigate spill and sky glow, select spectra and optics, set curfews and dimming and document outcomes for approvals. The goal is simple: lighting that supports human use while safeguarding the ecological rhythms of the night.
Networks
Industry Partnerships & Collaboration
12+
Years Combined Experience
Award Winning
Awarded Commendation in the 2025 IESANZ Lighting Awards
100%
5 Star Customer Reviews
Designing light that protects the night
Artificial Light Impact Assessments (ALIA) evaluate how artificial lighting affects the surrounding environment, particularly nocturnal habitats and ecological systems. These assessments identify potential light spill, glare and sky glow impacts to ensure developments meet environmental, planning and approval requirements.
Whether you’re preparing an environmental referral, responding to regulatory feedback, or designing for sensitive sites, Nightjar delivers the data and documentation needed to demonstrate compliance and protect the night.
Understanding what’s already there is where good lighting begins.
Understanding the existing light environment is the foundation of any effective lighting or impact assessment. Nightjar’s Existing Conditions Assessments document and quantify the artificial and natural light present on site. Whether the goal is environmental baseline monitoring, regulatory compliance or performance verification.
Our assessments combine calibrated field measurements, georeferenced imaging, and spatial mapping to build a reliable picture of how light behaves across a site. All data is traceable, benchmarked against relevant standards and presented in clear, actionable outputs suitable for planning, certification or design refinement.
Seeing the bigger picture before it’s built.
Cumulative light modelling reveals how all sources of light – existing and proposed – combine to shape the nocturnal environment. Nightjar’s predictive models quantify not just the contribution of a single development but the total skyglow, spill, and luminance shift across a landscape. This provides a true picture of change, grounded in data rather than assumption.
By combining measured baselines with predictive modelling, Nightjar brings clarity to complexity, showing how new light interacts with what’s already there, and guiding designs that protect the integrity of the night.
Lighting that balances mitigation, compliance and usability.
Artificial Light Management Plans (ALMPs) translate assessment findings into practical, implementable actions. They ensure that identified light impacts are addressed through design refinement, controls, and operational measures. At Nightjar Lighting Design, we develop ALMPs that not only meet the requirements of environmental regulators but also preserve functionality, safety and visual intent for the project.
The goal is to create a plan that satisfies regulatory conditions and serves as a clear roadmap for designers, contractors and operators alike.
Designing light that protects life after dark.
Many species experience night very differently than we do. While humans can tolerate and even thrive under artificial light, nocturnal and crepuscular fauna rely on darkness to feed, navigate, migrate, and breed. At Nightjar, our Fauna-Sensitive Lighting Design Support bridges ecology and lighting design to minimise disruption while preserving the safety, function and aesthetics of the built environment.
We also prepare practical design documentation and specifications, giving project teams clear, buildable solutions that integrate ecological responsibility into every stage of delivery.
Whether you need lighting design, compliance calculations, Revit automation, or environmental lighting assessments – we deliver precision, performance, and peace of mind.
