Grain LNG Limited

Goke Phillips

Integrated EPC Champion

Goke Phillips, Engineering and Construction Director at Grain LNG, has been working on fascinating projects over his career. he is leading their Capacity 25 expansion – CAP 25 – which is without doubt, one of the most challenging and rewarding projects.

Powering the UK Through Scale, Speed and Flexibility

Grain LNG on the Isle of Grain in North Kent is Europe’s largest LNG importation terminal. The site has grown from a small peak shaving facility into a world class upper tier COMAH installation capable of supplying up to 25 per cent of the UK’s gas demand. Over the years we’ve invested more than £1.1bn in building jetties, cryogenic lines, road tanker facilities and eight giant storage tanks. Grain doesn’t own the gas – we import, store and process it on behalf of our customers – but we run an asset base that can ramp to full output in under two hours and handle the widest range of LNG quality in the world.  

That flexibility has made Grain a critical gateway for LNG into the UK and across Europe.

Leading CAP 25 – two EPC contractors, one integrated programme

Part of my role is leading CAP 25, the latest expansion phase that will push our total capacity to around 20mtpa - roughly 33% of UK gas demand. It’s a £500m programme with three integrated workstreams: building a new 190,000m³ tank, delivering a major suite of Main Site Works, and carrying out a Phase 1 “Re life” of existing infrastructure.

One of the biggest challenges has been running two Principal Contractors – EVT and Murphy – at the same time, each with their own subcontractors, cultures and systems. My job is aligning them behind a single programme, a single set of priorities and a shared culture. When it works – and it does – it’s powerful. But it only works through openness, clarity and the belief that “if they fail, we fail.”

A huge range of specialist activity

Projects of this scale take ‘engineering breadth’ to another level. We’re talking electrical, mechanical, chemical, civil, cryogenic engineering, construction, commissioning, safety and planning – all running in parallel. On the tank alone we had over 400 specialists working two shifts around the clock during the slipform. On the main site works, we’re integrating compressors, substations, export facilities and hundreds of interface points into a live plant.

Add to that, the fact that we’re building on an upper tier COMAH site where customer service and operational availability remain non negotiable, and you get a sense of the complexity. Our assets run 24/7/365, and every construction activity must be sequenced around a live terminal. That means deep planning between contractors, operations and maintenance so we keep customers fully supplied while still delivering a vast expansion programme.

Global supply chains and offsite fabrication ​

Much of CAP 25’s equipment is fabricated overseas – demanding rigorous oversight. We’ve invested heavily in remote inspections, travelling for regular site presence to monitor fabrication and ensure every component lands meets our rigorous specifications. When global supply chains were disrupted by the pandemic and later by geopolitical pressures including Ukraine (and the Middle East), that discipline paid off. Early alignment meant resilience when it mattered.

Digital innovation

One of the advantages of a complex EPC arrangement is that it forces innovation, not out of choice but necessity. With two EPCs and a whole network of specialist partners, we needed a smarter way to coordinate a very busy site. So, we built the Simultaneous Operations Tracker – a cross site digital platform that provides a single, shared view of everything happening; interfaces, risks and workfronts in one place. It took genuine collaboration across contractors and Grain teams to create it, but it’s already making the project safer, more efficient and more predictable. As we roll it out further, it’s becoming a legacy in its own right – a better way of working that will outlast construction.

Capability – the challenge facing everyone

There’s another theme I want to draw out, because it’s not unique to Grain. Across the global construction and engineering world – in the US, Canada, Japan and beyond – capability is tightening. People with deep experience are retiring faster than new talent is entering the industry. Specialist skills are scarce, and major projects everywhere are competing for the same shrinking pool of expertise.

This isn’t anecdotal, it’s structural. And if we don’t get ahead of it, projects slip, costs rise, and capability erodes. That’s why I see capability as a strategic asset. We must grow it, develop it and retain it. Skills are as critical to building energy security as the steel and concrete. As a leader, it’s critical to be able to recruit the right people to the right positions – it’s their mix of positive attitude, confidence and skills that drive success.

Safety – the single most important thing

Safety is the one thing I will never compromise on. Full stop. With thousands of activities happening across a hazardous site, it’s a mammoth undertaking – but it’s deeply personal for me. No one should be hurt at work.

We’ve built a shared safety culture across Grain, EVT, Murphy and the wider supply chain: rigorous inductions, behavioural safety, high quality risk assessment and absolute permission to stop work if something doesn’t look right. And on a COMAH site, process safety sits front and centre – design assurance, human factors, emergency response and robust documentation all matter. As I look out on site, of course, I’m proud to see the scale of what we’ve built - but one thing trumps that, that we’ve done it safely.

Legacy​ 

CAP 25 isn’t just a construction project – it’s the next step in UK energy resilience. It shows what’s possible when engineering depth, digital innovation and genuine collaboration align behind a single vision.

In an industry facing capability challenges, supply chain fragility and rising complexity, we’ve shown that integrated construction can still deliver – safely and to a world class standard.

As we move toward completion, CAP 25 is proof that complex engineering, high trust partnerships and disciplined execution can work as one. It strengthens the UK’s energy backbone, and it leaves the industry with something essential – a practical blueprint for delivering major programmes in a more complex world.  ​