Announcement of New Chief, University Planning, Design & Construction

From: Scott Mabury, Vice-President, Operations & Real Estate Partnerships
Date: March 3, 2022
Re: Announcement of New Chief, University Planning, Design & Construction

In January 2012 an organizational review for the Division of the Vice-President University Operations resulted in the creation of University Planning Design and Construction (UPDC), an amalgamation of the former Real-Estate Operations with the Office of Campus and Facilities Planning. The portfolio currently has one assistant vice-president, two directors and one executive director in place, with a mandate to integrate and coordinate across the areas of planning, project development, design and engineering, and management of projects and space, to deliver value and consistent levels of service for the University.

I am delighted to announce that David Lehto will be joining our OREP team as Chief of University Planning, Design & Construction effective March 28.

Dave comes to us from Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL) where he was the Canadian EVP and National Lead for JLL’s 100+ Project & Development Services (PDS) team of professionals focused on commercial office, hotels, retail, light industrial, education, and sports & entertainment projects. Prior to JLL, Dave spent 14 years at Stantec Consulting leading an 80-person Program & Project Management (P&PM) team in Ontario and eventually their 200-person National P&PM platform. 

Directly or indirectly, he has worked closely with project managers, engineers, architects, schedulers, cost estimators, cost controllers, risk managers, commissioning agents, energy & sustainability specialists, and management consultants. 

Always close to his love for projects, Dave has delivered large, complex programs such as Canada Post’s $2.5B Postal Transformation Program of  33 projects in 16 cities; the design and contract administration of 77 store renovations during Target’s aggressive retail expansion into Canada; CIBC’s Corporate Real Estate account; and, Nieuport Aviation Infrastructure Partners’ Billy Bishop Airport Terminal Expansion.  His other project experiences were in education, healthcare, rail, mining, hydroelectric dams, oil and gas, nuclear, and environmental sectors. 

Coming full circle, his first major capital project in 2004 was for the university, when he was the project manager during the construction of the Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research before managing the design to construction award of the New Science Building at UTSc. 

When Dave joins us, he will be overseeing an extremely talented team of architects, project planners, managers, and developers, and his first order of business will be to better position the portfolio to deliver the University’s expansive capital program on budget and on schedule, within its mission of design excellence. A challenge indeed, but one we believe can be achieved with Dave at the helm.

He can be contacted at: dave.lehto@utoronto.ca

Please join me in welcoming Dave to UPDC and to U of T!