Moving Modular Forward - November 21, 2019

Kehilla Residential Programme, with EllisDon as lead sponsor, presented Moving Modular Forward, a design competition to explore housing designs that are modular, affordable, scalable and portable. Toronto is experiencing an unprecedented housing affordability crisis driven by a severe shortage of affordable housing. The purpose of this design competition is to demonstrate to the real estate development community and all three levels of government that modular housing has the potential to be an immediately implementable solution for affordable housing.

The competition will culminated in an awards ceremony and reception on Thursday, November 21 at the Myhal Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the University of Toronto during National Housing Week. The top four selected firms presented their designs to a jury of design and development luminaries who selected the winning designs.

Meet our Distinguished Jury:

Jennifer Keesmaat: Founding Principal & CEO, The Keesmaat Group

Jennifer Keesmaat is an urban planner passionate about creating places where people flourish. She spent five years as Toronto’s Chief City Planner and has been named one of the “most powerful people in Canada”. In 2019, Keesmaat founded The Keesmaat Group, a group of urbanists working with corporate and political leaders to advance transformative change in cities around the world. The Keesmaat Group works to advance solutions to some of the most pressing challenges of our time, including the global housing affordability crisis, the need for mobility in cities that isn’t reliant on fossil fuels, and smarter, quicker adaptations to a changing climate. Jennifer Keesmaat is celebrated and best known for her forward thinking and collaborative approach to city-building.

Dermot Sweeny: Founding Principal, Sweeny&CO

Dermot Sweeny is a professional Architect and Founding Partner of Sweeny&Co Architects Inc. His passion for green building has put him at the forefront of a movement to design facilities that enhance comfort for people and minimize the impact on the environment. Sweeny&Co serves Canadian and International cities on a wide range of commissions including office, retail, residential, institutional, educational and complex mixed-use urban projects, and work to reconnect people to the importance of architecture culturally, economically, and in contributing to a sustainable, higher quality of life within in our cities. 

Leona Savoie: Senior Vice President Development, Hullmark Developments 

Leona Savoie is the Senior Vice President Development at Hullmark. Savoie believes we need to start re-thinking the way we plan our cities outside of traditional methods of planning employment areas, residential, retail and mixed-use and was selected to represent the industry as a Board of Director and Executive Committee member for BILD. At Hullmark, she plays an instrumental role in helping deliver best-in-class developments to market, by leading planning and project management activities.

Xavier Toby: Director of Prefabrication and Modular, EllisDon

Xavier Joined EllisDon in 2018 to lead EllisDon’s Prefabrication and Modular group, focusing on the implementation of new technologies within EllisDon and through external partnerships, from clients and architects to subcontractors and site coordinators. His current focus is opening a modular manufacturing facility of 300,000 sf in Hamilton ON, which has capacity to produce 1 million sf of construction per year, and is scheduled to begin production in Q2 of 2020.

Master of Ceremonies:

Jeanhy Shim: Housing Lab Toronto (MC)

Jeanhy Shim has been working in the real estate development industry for the past 27+ years, providing strategic market analysis, advice and innovative solutions to developers across the Toronto GTA and beyond. Currently, Jeanhy is President of Housing Lab Toronto - an independent housing market research firm that is rethinking how we grow our city by focusing on what people need and want, and CEO of Children's Discovery Centre - a non-profit children's museum pilot project that is looking for a permanent home in Toronto.  Jeanhy also serves on the Board of Directors at Waterfront Toronto, ULI Toronto and Berry Road Food Coop. Jeanhy grew up in Rexdale Etobicoke, then spent her university years abroad in Montreal, Washington DC and London, England, before returning to Toronto where she lives downtown with her 10-year old daughter.