The north-east branch of the CIOB visited Bergen in Norway last month to pilot a regional twinning scheme.
CIOB North-East believes it can exploit the existing strong commercial and social links between the North-east and Scandinavia. The eventual aim is mutual recognition of qualifications.

If the pilot is successful, CIOB International will effectively franchise its Scandinavia operation to the north-east branch, which will roll out its programme over five years to Denmark (which has a dormant agreement), Sweden, Finland and Iceland.

The Bergen visit was a fact-finding mission to identify like-minded organisations and get an overview of the Norwegian construction industry. A return visit by Norwegian built environment professionals is planned for March.