ULI Toronto’s Young Leaders were taught how to make the Design Leap! by FORREC’s President and CEO Gord Dorrett at a members-only event last Thursday. FORREC (Toronto-grown, and advertised as the city’s best kept secret) is a planning and design firm that specializes in the creation of entertainment and leisure environments worldwide. They have built projects in over 20 countries and can boasts Universal Studios, the Disney Development Company, and the government of Abu Dhabi (among a long list of others) as clients.

FORREC showed Toronto’s Young Leaders how to “design with happiness in mind.” The event featured a presentation by Dorrett of select FORREC projects, covering everything from the planning and design process to what’s made this unique, multidisciplinary design firm a global success. The evening culminated with a tour of FORREC’s design studio which, as participant and ULI young leader Janice Law noted, explained “more about the work [and] shed light onto their work culture.”

During the program, participants had the opportunity to get involved with an interactive Q&A session, and to network with their peers. When it was time to go home, the consensus was clear; this event was like all ULI Toronto events: it boasted an “enthusiastic presenter, an intimate group, an interactive Q&A, and just the right amount of networking.”