OXFORDSHIRE County Council is set to axe most of its contract with Carillion after shares in facilities management and construction company plummeted.

The company provided many maintenance and construction services on behalf of the authority, but after negotiations both parties reached an agreement to cut ties at no cost to the tax paper.

The deal was signed in 2012 with the vision it would last for 10 years.

Lorraine Lindsay-Gale, county council cabinet member for property, said ‘the world has changed since 2012’, adding the council had ‘different ideas how to maximise the value of its estate.’

She said: “Carillion have been in partnership with the county council since 2012 providing key support services such as routine property management, facilities management, energy management and the design and build of capital work such as building new schools and new classrooms.

There is a mutual recognition of this change between ourselves and Carillion, hence the willingness for both parties to enter the negotiations which concluded successfully recently.”

One aspect of the contract that will remain in operation is facilities management – the work that takes place to ensure the general upkeep and day-to-day operation of council buildings.

The council said since the contract was signed in 2012 the authority’s policies and strategies – particularly in relation to property and its estate – have evolved in such a way that the tie-up with Carillion made ‘less commercial sense now’ than it originally did.

New arrangements for the design and construction element of the contract that has been terminated will take effect later this year on September 1.

It will be procured externally.

Ms Lindsay-Gale added: “We now look to the future with a desire to make the very most of our property footprint on behalf of the taxpayer.”