LUFS, destructive editing?

Yes - there are always several ways to achieve things like this! A big part of the issue here is that most people just regard LUFS as a number, and not consider what it is they are actually altering to hit it. First thing you have to remember is that a single LU is basically 1dB of level difference - so just raising or lowering the overall level of your file will alter the LUFS reading you get. And there are several different ways of measuring LUFS as well, of course. Rather than go through it all here, I suggest having a look at this introduction. You also have to bear in mind that there's a lot of  'Emporer's New Clothes' about this. The original idea was to try to get broadcast transmissions to be homogenised to the point where people didn't have to keep altering the volume between programmes and TV channels. Guess what? That doesn't work! But still, stations keep insisting that productions have to meet whatever LUFS standard they set, despite the fact that every station going feeds their entire output into an Orban Optimod before it hits the transmitter, and it's that that ultimately sorts out the levels, not you jumping though hoops to set a LUFS level on a programme you submit.

On the one hand, I'm a little jaundiced about this - I'll admit it. But on the other hand, there are still broadcasters who do not insist on LUFS levels, and have other methods they prefer to use. And when one of those broadcasters is the BBC, you have to take a bit of notice of what they say. So the other important document that I think everybody should read when it comes to LUFS, etc is this. Read it carefully...