Sir Neville said the move was part of the group's ongoing restructuring. Losses at Crown House and the cost of the redundancies will result in a £34m exceptional charge in next year's accounts.
Sir Neville said: "Of course I am disappointed. Anything unsatisfactory that happens at the company necessarily reflects back on those in charge.
"The business used to be high risk. We are trying to move the group away from high risk to one that has more control over its cash flow."
Sir Neville denied that the move would have any effect on his retirement plans and would not comment on rumours that he would be leaving next year.
He added: "One doesn't give up out of hand just because of a knock; one digs in deeper. I feel the firm is heading in the right direction."
Sir Neville said the move was because of problems with Crown House rather than the state of the M&E market. He said: "It was a Crown House thing rather than a market thing. The market is quite strong."
The job losses, which will see Crown House's turnover drop by one-third to £150m, follows a financial review of the subsidiary's operations carried out by finance director Chris Girling.
Girling found that growth had not been sufficiently controlled and that losses were likely on existing contracts. Crown House will now focus on larger jobs.
A Carillion insider said: "This is part of the new regime and we are living up to it. Contractors have been accused before of being less than transparent with their figures. We are now making the business clean."
The restructure has also involved the appointment of new finance, commercial and operations directors at Crown House. These have been drafted in from Carillion's building arm.
Richard Lumby, who joined Crown House after Carillion's demerger from Tarmac, remains managing director. Sir Neville said: "Richard is part of the solution. We now have a top team."
Insiders at the firm saw the move as a positive one. One said: "Morale is high. People are genuinely looking forward to the changes. It was expected."
And despite the losses, analysts did not express shock at the move. One said: "It's not a huge surprise. I don't think it will affect analysts' estimates unduly."
Rumours have been circulating in the City for some time that Carillion would restructure Crown House in order to prepare a defence against a bid from Swedish construction giant Skanska.
A final inspection of the work was to be carried out by Liverpool City Council on Friday after a report was given to its ground safety advisory group on Thursday.
Concerns were raised after fans jumping up and down at a match in May caused the stand to wobble.
Carillion, which finished extending the stand in 1998, has installed three upright support posts to provide extra support for a beam that runs the length of the stand.
