February 3, 2010

Professional standards

Canadian Construction Association looks at Gold Seal reciprocity

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

The Canadian Construction Association’s (CCA) national Gold Seal committee is looking into negotiating international reciprocity agreements with organizations in Britain and the U.S.

Clive Thurston, president of the Ontario General Contractors Association who has been assigned the task of researching the matter, said such a move would represent a natural evolution of the program.

Achieving international recognition of Gold Seal also would be beneficial for Canadian contractors working abroad.

“As the national face of accreditation of construction industry professionals, the Gold Seal committee feels it is definitely worth exploring the possibility of achieving reciprocity,” he said.

Gold Seal is a national certification program for ICI (institutional, commercial and industrial) construction managers in the occupations of estimator, superintendent, project manager, owner’s project manager and construction safety co-ordinator.

To date, 7,670 certificates have been issued.

Thurston, a member of the national committee since 2006, said contact will be made initially with the Chartered Institute of Building in Britain.

If that proves successful, the committee will then approach the American Institute of Constructors (AIC). A comparison will be made of certification programs to determine if there is a basis for mutual recognition.

Thurston said the Gold Seal committee also is interested in working with The Construction Institute, an arm of the Toronto Construction Association, which has negotiated a protocol agreement with the AIC.

The institute offers a range of professional development programs, courses and seminars.

For its part, the Gold Seal program has experienced a huge resurgence in popularity in recent years, Thurston said.

In response, the 12-member committee has been working to upgrade the program.

A number of significant changes have been made, Thurston said.

These include an increase in the amount of experience required to become certified, as well as introduction of the Professional, Gold Seal-certified designation, which requires ongoing professional development.

“We are going to be concentrating on making Gold Seal the premier designation for construction professionals,” he said.

Thurston is scheduled to report back to the committee on the results of his research at its next meeting, expected in April or May.

Print | Email | Comment