New John Paul II Centre site gets archdiocesan approval
By Laureen McMahon
The B.C. Catholic

VANCOUVER--Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, has appointed James Radford Director of Project Management for the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

Radford has come on board to manage a slate of major new construction and parish renovation projects as needed.

Although he only recently joined staff at the John Paul II Pastoral Centre in downtown Vancouver, Radford’s desk is already scattered with schematic drawings of projects; a large number of rolled-up architectural plans are piled up on several side shelves.

First on his agenda, he told The B.C. Catholic, is overseeing construction of new archdiocesan central offices on the site of the former St. Vincent’s Hospital at 33rd Avenue and Heather Street in Vancouver. They will replace the John Paul II Pastoral Centre at the corner of Cambie and Robson Streets in Vancouver. While the downtown pastoral centre has not yet been sold, he explained, plans have been initiated to build the new centre.

“We are projecting it to be operational in early summer of 2014,” Radford noted.

Trained as a civil engineer in his native South Africa, Radford also holds a degree in commerce. He grew up in the city of Durban and immigrated to Canada with his family in 1991.

“We had three young children and were looking for a good educational system, which Canada offered. Vancouver was a great choice of city because I already had a brother living here.”

A land development professional, Radford has spent his career working for building and development companies in the Lower Mainland or running his own engineering and project management firms.

He was delighted, he said, to accept Archbishop Miller’s offer to oversee the building initiatives of the archdiocese, beginning with the planning and design phases and moving on to the start of construction. It’s great, he said, “to work with an archbishop who wants to play a ‘hands-on’ role.

“It’s also wonderful,” Radford added, “to be in on the ground floor of a project, whether it’s a retreat centre, an elementary or regional high school, a church or parish hall, or a residence.”

Critical to the success of any new project, he stressed, is its overall feasibility.

“This is the first consideration. Whatever the project, the professional team must come up with a workable concept, cost it out, and make sure it meets both the budget and the needs. Before going ahead, the design must be re-evaluated at every level to make sure any problems are fixed. Then you bid the project to contractors, build it, and hand it over to those who will operate it.”

His responsibilities include supporting management teams tasked with carrying out the steps needed to bring each project to fruition. This includes overseeing land development and the design of the building and its interior systems in close cooperation with construction teams.

Radford is working closely with the archdiocesan team, including Francis Wong and Arnold Fenrick from the Finance Department, and Dan Moric, the Archbishop’s Delegate for Administration, as well as an external group of professional consultants.

All reports, he noted, are submitted to the three-person steering committee. Its members: Archbishop Miller, Vicar-General Msgr. Stephen Jensen, and Archdiocesan Building Commission chairman Father Stanley Galvon, make all the final decisions.

“It all rests in their hands, with the archbishop signing off on everything.”

There have been many fundamental changes in recent years to the way in which construction projects are handled, said Radford.

“In the old days you could rely on the project master architect and master builder doing everything. Today we typically consult a wide variety of experts knowledgeable on every phase of building. We bring in specialists in seismic safety issues, for example, and electrical engineers responsible for wiring buildings for the latest information technology systems.”

An obvious advantage of brand new construction, he noted, is the ability to install the most modern technology.

“Instead of dealing with a building which went up well before the age of computers, we can start fresh,” said Radford.

When it comes to parish-based projects, Radford said he will play a behind-the-scenes role to support pastors through all phases of planning and development, whether the plans call for new building or renovations.