InSite Technical Services applies refinery expertise to energy transition, infrastructure, and industrial projects
When the Murco refinery in Milford Haven closed at the end of 2014, six engineers found themselves at a crossroads. Years spent running one of the region’s industrial sites ended abruptly. Like many facing redundancy, they needed to make decisions about their careers, families, and whether their futures would unfold elsewhere.
For Jean Martin, Managing Director of InSite Technical Services (InSite), leaving West Wales to pursue the next opportunity elsewhere never felt like the right answer. “We started InSite in 2015 with six people who wanted to stay in the area for our families. It wasn’t really a strategic career decision. It was a family decision.”
What started as a choice to stay rooted in West Wales has grown into a multidisciplinary engineering consultancy supporting refineries, LNG terminals, power generation facilities, and industrial infrastructure across the UK and Europe. Now, InSite’s next chapter is shaped by a different challenge. As operators look for ways to adapt existing assets to meet changing environmental, operational, and economic demands, InSite applies expertise developed in traditional refining to projects involving hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuel, water infrastructure, and electrical-grid connectivity. “We’re building on the skills we’ve developed over the years. Our experience gives us a chance to apply those capabilities to the changing energy landscape.”
Collective knowledge
The balance between experience and change is at the heart of Jean’s role today. After graduating in 1992, she entered the refining sector and built her career across operations, reliability, inspection, and engineering management. The experience gave her a front-row view of how industrial sites run day to day, shaping an approach that blends engineering expertise with a real understanding of the practical demands operators face.
All six directors shared that background, and the collective years spent working in operating facilities, as well as EPCs shaped the perspective they bring to InSite today. Knowing how assets perform over decades of service became just as important as knowing how they were designed in the first place. “It was all about making sure equipment operating at high temperatures and pressures stayed fit for purpose, without thinning, developing or suffering damage, from either internal or external corrosion.”
That same instinct, knowing an asset’s history, not just its blueprint, still shapes InSite’s approach today. While the company offers services from feasibility studies and concept development to FEED, detailed design, project management, procurement support, and construction support, it stands out because its workforce truly understands the realities of live operating environments.
Hydrogen studies
Many of InSite’s customers sit at the heart of the UK’s energy network. Valero’s Pembroke Refinery played a big part in the company’s early growth, while framework agreements with Dragon LNG and South Hook LNG continue to create opportunities across gas infrastructure. InSite also supports projects for RWE, including work with power-generation facilities.
InSite built those relationships in traditional energy markets, but now clients are asking different questions. Instead of building entirely new facilities, many want to see how existing infrastructure can accommodate new fuels, technologies, and operating requirements.
Hydrogen has become a bigger area of focus as clients explore how existing facilities can support new energy technologies. “Hydrogen is a carbon-free fuel, and it’s likely to play a big role in the future energy mix. It’s still early, and one challenge is that many hydrogen projects start and then pause while funding and investment decisions are finalized.”
InSite has completed FEED studies for electrolyser developments and continues to help clients explore hydrogen opportunities. While project timelines can shift based on funding and investment decisions, the company sees long-term potential in helping operators navigate both the technical and operational requirements of hydrogen production and handling.
Some of the most immediate opportunities are emerging from efforts to rethink how existing fuels infrastructure is used, particularly in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). “In terms of its chemical composition, SAF is identical to any standard fuel used in aviation. But sustainable aviation fuel is part of a circular carbon economy, so we’re not creating new pollutants.”
New opportunities
Today, the work involves questions that didn’t exist when InSite started. How do you introduce new feedstocks into facilities designed for something else? How do you reduce emissions without replacing entire assets? For operators facing these questions, engineering challenges often start well before construction.
InSite has supported projects tied to storage, blending, and production, including a refinery project in Switzerland that introduced used cooking oil feedstocks into an existing diesel hydrotreater, as well as a SAF initiative in Rotterdam.
Meeting demand at scale, however, requires InSite to grow, and success created a different set of management challenges. Growing from six founders into a business of about 130 people meant new systems and processes, plus access to a broader range of opportunities.
In 2021, InSite became part of Vulcain Engineering Group after selling a majority stake. While the company retained its local leadership, the acquisition brought more structure and support as the business continued to grow. “When you have 130 people depending on a steady flow of work, it’s always a challenge to strike the right balance, having enough work to keep everyone busy, but not so much that you’re overwhelmed.”
Beyond financial discipline, joining Vulcain broadened InSite’s exposure to sectors and clients outside its traditional markets. “Being part of a larger group with operations in nuclear energy, wind, solar, and infrastructure has helped us win new clients and connect with organizations we wouldn’t have met otherwise.”
Developing talent
The acquisition has played an important role in InSite’s expansion beyond oil and gas. Water infrastructure and electrical grid projects are now increasingly important areas of focus, especially as utilities respond to investment and capacity needs across the UK.
Working with sister companies PDL and Crouch Waterfall, InSite is expanding its work in projects with Welsh Water while looking at opportunities across Scotland and the northeast of England.
Even as new sectors become a larger part of the business, the priorities that shaped InSite’s formation remain firmly in place. “We’re very proud when we can recruit graduates from the area or attract talent to the region. About a quarter of our employees have come through apprenticeship and graduate pathways, and our team now includes around ten nationalities. I’m very pleased about that; it gives us a diverse workforce.”
Expanding into new markets matters, but so does helping the region to keep developing engineering talent. “We’re proud whenever we can help graduates from the area, or those who move here, build their careers.”
Oil and gas still account for most of InSite’s work, but projects in hydrogen, SAF, water infrastructure, and energy transition areas continue to grow. Indeed, water provision and grid connectivity have become recurring themes in conversations across the infrastructure sector. For Jean, both are chances to apply the company’s engineering expertise in areas that support economic activity and industrial growth. “We’d like to do more work in those essential infrastructure areas,” Jean concludes.
