25-04-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
Skanska USA's Trevor Wyckoff talks Vancouver development
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Skanska's GM says the Vancouver building department is the best he's ever worked with.
After 25 years working for Skanska USA, Trevor Wyckoff in December took over as general manager for the firm's Oregon and Southwest Washington region.
He's a 30-year Vancouver resident and said more than 50 of the firm's craft and salaried employees call SW Washington home.
Wyckoff sat down with Portland Business Journal Publisher Candace Beeke on April 10 to kick off the PBJ's first ever Grow Vancouver event, held at the AC Hotel on the city's waterfront.
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The two talked about what makes Vancouver a good market for projects.
Here are lightly edited takeaways from the conversation.
On why Vancouver is a prime market for development
The building department here is by far and away the best that I've ever had the opportunity to work with. The last two projects that we've done, the Mountain View High School and the School for the Deaf, we had expectations on our side and the client side for duration, for permitting, and they were probably tight. We met early on with the building department, went through what we were hoping to get out of permit timelines and then they set their expectations. It was extraordinarily collaborative process.
(There is also) a large group of subcontractors and a large craft contingent based here in Clark County, so when we do projects in Vancouver, we know that we're going to get really good subcontractor participation.
On how the Vancouver Waterfront has been a "game changer"
I think this waterfront is one. I remember around 20 years ago when I first heard about this project. I'd been living in Vancouver for about 10 years, and I wasn't sure if it would actually take off. At the time, my wife and I wouldn't come downtown. Weekends and evenings, you would not see people downtown at all in Vancouver. What's happened over the last several years here has been a real game changer. As a community member, the pride that I have in what's happened here in this waterfront, and what that's done for the city of Vancouver, it's just amazing.
On Skanska's work in Vancouver
We're very excited about the growth that's happening here in Vancouver and the opportunities that will present for us as a company. So we're making a conscious effort to put more of a focus on Southwest Washington and Vancouver. One thing that is extremely exciting to us is that recently we were awarded the city of Vancouver's Maintenance and Operations Center. That is a project that we have been chasing, and we identified about three or four years ago as one that we really wanted to win.
