The venture, called Odyssey Property Services, has failed to win any private outsourcing work since its launch last April.
Barry Lucas, managing director of Jarvis' PFI arm Jarvis Projects and chief executive of Odyssey Property Services, will leave on 1 May. He will continue to act as a consultant on international and niche markets for Jarvis, excluding the PFI.
Tim Langdon, currently business development director of Jarvis Accommodation Services, will take over Lucas' Odyssey role.
Odyssey's unsuccessful bids include the £500m BBC property outsourcing deal, a similar contract for Electricité de France and an abortive £1bn outsourcing agreement with computer services group ICL.
Lucas admitted that the venture was struggling to get off the ground. He said: "From the fact the Odyssey has not signed a contract, it is undeniable that it was not offering the right price for the right portfolio." Lucas said that although Jarvis had focused hard on breaking into property outsourcing, UBS Warburg had not shown the same commitment, particularly after its acquisition last December of US investment house Paine Webber.
He said: "The people actively in support of the joint venture arrangements changed through time." UBS Warburg was unavailable for comment.
A Jarvis spokesperson admitted that the joint venture was not currently bidding for any work.
He said: "The relationship with UBS Warburg is good and continuing. These are long-term projects we are looking at. We gave ourselves a couple of years to get into this market." Lucas said he had been frustrated with the difficulties in getting PFI deals signed. "There are very few corporate clients who are ready to negotiate. What we thought a year ago would be a series of drivers and motivators for property outsourcing has not happened. There is a great reluctance among corporates to dispose of what they see as the crown jewels." Lucas is buying a personal stake in Avening Properties, a developer set up in 1988 by Piers Codling, previously general manager for KLCC, the firm that developed the world's tallest buildings, the Petronas Towers in Kaula Lumpur.
Avening principally develops offices and light industrial and commercial buildings in the south-east England. Lucas will become principal and co-director.
Lucas said that, over the next year, Avening would pursue strategic outsourcing relationships with large established developers.
