CONCERN has been voiced about the collapse of construction giant Carillion, which is delivering the second (southern) phase of Bordon’s relief road.

Following a raft of financial difficulties, Carillion, based in Wolverhampton, went into compulsory liquidation on Monday as its troubles continued to dominate the headlines.

Despite local fears that the collapse would affect the road, which is approaching completion, the county council explained it has “arrangements” in place to deal with the turbulence.

Carillion, said to be the second-biggest construction company in the country, describes itself as “a leading international integrated support services business” and employs around 43,000 people in the UK, Canada and the Middle East.

The firm had been plagued with substantial debt and saw a rapid drop in its share price in July, coinciding with the departure of its chief executive. Add a first half pre-tax loss of £1.15bn, reported in September, and the financial forecast had been looking particularly gloomy.

The company holds thousands of contracts in the UK - with schools, prisons and the NHS - and is involved with large-scale infrastructure projects, including the High Speed 2 rail line, connecting London with the north of the country.

But Bordon’s relief road is its largest project locally.

Rob Humby, Hampshire County Council’s executive member for environment and transport, said: “We are concerned to hear about the latest developments with Carillion, and Hampshire County Council is in discussions with them.

“However, we do have contractual arrangements already in place to deal with such circumstances. Hampshire County Council appointed Carillion to construct phase two of the Whitehill and Bordon relief road at a cost of £20million, which started on October 21 last year, and work is progressing well to date.”

A spokesman for the Whitehill & Bordon Regeneration Company - which is developing the new town centre, facilities and housing at and around Prince Philip Barracks - said: “We are working closely with the team at Hampshire County Council, who are in close dialogue with the local Carillion team.

“There is a commitment, by the county council, to get the relief road open with the minimum disruption as a result of the Carillion liquidation.”

Although construction had long been its focus - boasting GCHQ’s “Doughnut” base in Cheltenham, Heathrow’s terminal five and the Battersea Power Station’s redevelopment in its eclectic portfolio - Carillion provides other services.

For the NHS, it maintains 200 operating theatres, 11,800 hospital beds and help desks. It has designed and built 150 schools, and provides maintenance services, like cleaning and catering, to hundreds more.

Transport contracts include building and maintaining motorways for the Highways Agency, tracks and signals for Network Rail and working on London’s Crossrail project.

With so many fingers in so many pies, the concern is that its collapse could have significant implications for thousands of people in the country - at a time when economic stability is said to be of utmost importance.

But, in a statement issued on Monday, the firm said it had run out of options.

“Further to the announcement made on January 12, 2018, Carillion continued to engage with its key financial and other stakeholders, including Her Majesty’s Government, over the course of the weekend regarding options to reduce debt and strengthen the group’s balance sheet,” it said.

“As part of this engagement, Carillion also asked those stakeholders for limited short-term financial support, to enable it to continue to trade whilst longer term engagement continued.

“Despite considerable efforts, those discussions have not been successful, and the board of Carillion has concluded that it had no choice but to take steps to enter into compulsory liquidation with immediate effect.”

Philip Green, the firm’s chairman, said it was “a very sad day for Carillion, for our colleagues, suppliers and customers that we have been proud to serve”.

“Over recent months huge efforts have been made to restructure Carillion to deliver its sustainable future and the board is very grateful for the huge efforts made by (chief executive) Keith Cochrane, our executive team and many others who have worked tirelessly over this period,” he added.

“In recent days, however, we have been unable to secure the funding to support our business plan and it is therefore with the deepest regret that we have arrived at this decision.

“We understand that HM Government will be providing the necessary funding required by the official receiver to maintain the public services carried on by Carillion staff, subcontractors and suppliers.”

The lion’s share of work on Whitehill and Bordon’s £27m relief road has already been done and last year the county council said the project was “ahead of schedule” - due for completion this summer.

Works on the A325 will make it more pedestrian friendly and encourage vehicles, a significant number of which are through-traffic, to use the relief road instead of cutting through the middle of the town.