June 2022 Breakfast Session - Panel Discussion: Collaborative Technologies for Supporting Project Integration

1st and Clark, the residential tower project at East 1st Avenue and Clark Drive in Vancouver, British Columbia, is one of the first Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) projects in the City of Vancouver. It is being developed through the cooperation of three government partners – BC Housing, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), and the City of Vancouver.

The project consists of two residential towers of 7-storeys and 4-storeys. The towers are built over a 3-storey podium consisting of the Withdrawal Management Center and include two levels of underground parking. The project will provide close to 100 Affordable Rental housing units for low to moderate-income households, a state-of-art Withdrawal Management Centre with 20 short-term transitional beds, an academic research hub, trauma-informed culturally appropriate services, and a Social Enterprise program space focused on Indigenous healing and wellness.

This in-person breakfast session will consist of a panel discussion with representatives from the owner, architect, and contractor of the project to highlight the collaborative tools and technologies supporting the IPD project. The panelists will discuss their experience of using the collaborative tools over the course of the design phase of the project and key lessons learned that can be extended to traditional projects.

Panelists include: 

Architect representative - Stu Julien, Project Manager, HDR, Inc.. Stu is a technically driven advocate of Building Information Modeling (BIM) use and implementation. He has been working at HDR for just under 7 years, engaging production teams to construct large and complex multi-phase projects efficiently and successfully with an emphasis on current Building Science. Stu's 25+ year profession in architecture began in Alberta, where he graduated from Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. Since moving to British Columbia in 2007, the application and benefits of BIM technology have influenced his career. Stu's project experience includes multifamily residential, commercial, industrial, healthcare, and hospitality developments throughout Western Canada and the United States.

Contractor representative - Mathew Chrystian, Project Manager, Chandos. Mat is a Project Manager working at Chandos in Vancouver. He is originally from small-town Camrose, Alberta and attended the University of Alberta, graduating as a Civil Engineer. Three words to describe Mat are hard-working, detail orientated and loyal. When he is not at work, you can find Mat outside playing fetch with his dog Edie, face-timing his fiancé studying in Chicago or playing hockey.

Owner representative - Sadia Afrin, Manager for Construction Services, BC Housing. Sadia is the Manager for Construction Services at BC Housing and focuses on developing, managing, and administering a wide range of subsidized housing options across the province. The housing options address critical gaps across the housing continuum, which range from emergency shelter and rent assistance in the private market to affordable homeownership. She has more than 20 years of working experience in a variety of social housing projects and has developed multiple design guidelines and standards for affordable housing projects whose capital and/or operating budgets are funded or financed by BC Housing, including the BC Housing main construction design guidelines, Women Transition housing guidelines, Shelter design guidelines, Modular design guidelines for rapid response program and BC Housing Commissioning guidelines. With an academic background in Civil Engineering and Business Administration, she leads a wide range of complex projects and initiatives and continually makes improvements in frameworks, processes, and policies for construction and project delivery by ensuring their appropriate application in accomplishing program goals.

Moderator - Justin Perdue, Associate Vice President & Principal, HDR, Inc.. Justin is an award-winning architect who leads HDR’s Education, Science & Advanced Technology sector in Eastern Canada. He holds a Masters degree in Architecture and an Honours Bachelors of Architectural Studies, both from the University of Waterloo. He is passionate about design, and firmly believes that the built environment has a tangible and significant impact on our happiness and productivity. He is someone who questions conventional wisdom and who believes strongly that the design and construction industry is in need of new and innovative approaches. This desire for improvement led him to Lean Design and Construction and spurred his interest in Integrated Project Delivery. Since joining HDR, Justin has been involved in five IPD projects including HDR’s well-published work at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories. A consensus-builder, he has developed a reputation for getting varied stakeholder groups - including owners, designers, and contractors - to work collaboratively to achieve their goals. Please visit Justin’s Linkedin profile to learn more about him.

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