As part of NextGen Month, NextGen in Focus: Celebrating Tomorrow’s Leaders, Today highlights rising leaders across B.C.’s mechanical contracting industry—those building their careers through hands-on experience, mentorship, and a commitment to continuous growth.
This week, we’re featuring Anni Wu, Project Coordinator at Trotter & Morton Building Technologies. From her start in a university co-op program to navigating industry shifts and building a new path in B.C., Anni’s journey reflects the resilience, teamwork, and curiosity that continue to move this industry forward.
Anni Wu
Project Coordinator, Trotter & Morton Building Technologies
My journey in the industry started in a university co-op program on the East Coast in 2015. Coordinating and publishing installation drawings for commercial towers that poured a new floor every week, the word ‘progress’ was suddenly visible and quantifiable.
There were new challenges every day, but in this industry you always have support from your colleagues, which helps you overcome any obstacle. I started to enjoy the sense of accomplishment obtained through hard work and involvement, where efforts are appreciated and opinions considered.
At that time everything was booming, new projects rolling through the cities like seeds dropped by a tractor in the field. Then COVID hit like an asteroid. Bad timing for someone coming out of university. I was stressed that I would not find a job. Luckily, one of our industry’s signature traits is its resilience, even during the most difficult times, and so the projects went on.
I was offered a job as a building automation system designer, which required a very different knowledge set from what I had accumulated. As I got more projects under my belt, I was amazed to see buildings evolve from static 3D models to an interconnected, animated network of different systems before my eyes.
When the fire from Asteroid COVID was finally put out, I thought to myself: how about somewhere warmer, somewhere with more action? Within 4 months, I had moved across Canada to B.C., become a project coordinator, and started hiking.
With a new job and new responsibilities, I got cracking on learning the ropes. The day-to-day site planning, meetings, budgeting, relationship building… On my first project, the tasks were hard to grasp and we were getting stuck. I started to doubt my decision.
It was a dramatically bad, rainy day when I decided to go see the site team. We did some internal review while wiping rain off the laminated drawings every two seconds. Then we shared the solution with the client. As if by magic, the roadblock that had been haunting us was suddenly removed. The sense of achievement was back. I stopped doubting and continued to learn and collaborate with the team. Moments like this, where teamwork wins out, make me optimistic about the future of this industry.
Today, AI and other digital tools have been introduced into our day-to-day work. With their assistance, some processes have become more streamlined and efficient. I believe this gives us the opportunity to reflect on existing processes and explore cleaner futures. We now have the tools to see the overall picture – it is up to us to make this industry safer and more sustainable.
About
The Mechanical Contractors Association of B.C. (MCABC) is the dedicated representative of the mechanical contracting industry in British Columbia – the industry with the largest share of skilled trades workers in the construction sector. As the connection to industry excellence for our diverse membership, we deliver education and professional development programs that enable high standards of practice and business success. Through advocacy and strong industry partnerships, we influence policy and regulatory development at all levels of government, advancing the interests of our industry and improving its ability to meet B.C.’s growing infrastructure demand.
Media Contact
Conor Brendan Dunne
Manager, Communications & Stakeholder Engagement
cdunne@mcabc.org
(604) 205-5058
