Mainland Power was recently commissioned by Quantem to design and install solar panels on the roof of 5 Merchant Square (5MSQ) on behalf of building owner JLL.

The project is one of the first high rise building buildings in central London to incorporate a large solar PV system, reducing carbon emissions and lowering the building’s electricity costs.

The solar installation at 5 Merchant Square was a technically challenging retrofit, delivering a 109kWp on-roof system across two roof spaces on the east and west cores of the building.

The system comprises 186 585W full-frame solar panels mounted on K2 mini rail, powered by four 25kW Eqonic string inverters. Each panel is fitted with a TIGO optimiser to boost performance, improve system safety, and allow for fast fault detection — essential given the sites limited access for future maintenance.

With no option to use lifting equipment on site, all scaffolding and solar equipment had to be moved through the building’s internal goods lifts to reach the roof as Mainland worked with specialist PHD Access.

This required careful planning, including four weekend visits to transport materials outside of weekday hours and minimise disruption to the building and its staff.

Despite the logistical challenges, the full system was installed and commissioned in just over eight weeks, and with 100% of the energy generated now being consumed on-site the client is predicated to save over £25,000 per year.

Mainland Power CEO Ryan Dignam said: “This installation marks a significant turning point for solar systems on London buildings, to retrofit may be difficult however it can be done and will reduce your carbon footprint whilst saving money for your business.”

The Enquirer

Cincinnati Enquirer

Tom Gabelman is not bitter.

But when he learned Hamilton County was firing him and his former law firm, Frost Brown Todd, as outside counsel handling riverfront development and negotiations with the Bengals for a new stadium lease, he was stunned.

“Within the last year and a half, we probably have had 12 executive sessions, and that’s how we meet with the (Hamilton County Board of Commissioners) to advise them,” Gabelman said on this week’s episode of The Enquirer’s That’s So Cincinnati podcast. “And in none of those executive sessions did we ever hear, oh, well, I don’t think you’re going in the right direction, or there’s some issue with performance.

“We’ve been counsel for almost 30 years, and we’ve demonstrated our record.”

Gabelman reflected on those three decades working to secure property transfers, political deals and lease modifications – which he said benefitted the county – after voters in 1996 approved the half-cent sales tax increase that funded Paycor Stadium (formerly Paul Brown Stadium) and Great American Ball Park. He was on the front lines in 1998 when the late Todd Portune, then a Cincinnati City Council member, literally turned back the hands of time to meet a property transfer deadline.

“We’re going into this midnight deadline … and we were running behind. So (Portune) moved the clock,” Gabelman said. Gabelman left city hall in the wee hours that morning with the deed in hand.

Gabelman did not hold back when rebutting critics who suggested he and his firm were profiting at the expense of taxpayers without bringing value, pointing to millions of dollars acquired in grants, tax savings and investments on the riverfront.

“Gabelman’s charging them a million dollars a year. Well, yeah, at a severely discounted rate that is probably a negative margin with my own firm,” Gabelman said. “But we put public good over profit because we saw the change that had been happening and the change that continues to happen.”

Despite the turn of events, Gabelman said the announcement of a new lease agreement is imminent.

“I am very optimistic,” he said. “I think we left the county well positioned to get the deal done with the Bengals. They should get the deal done with the Bengals because we had 90 percent of it done.”

That’s So Cincinnati, The Enquirer’s weekly podcast on what’s making news in our community, features a who’s who of special guests. Listen to it at Audioboom, Apple or your favorite podcast platform.

This story was updated to add a video and gallery.

Thom Brennaman says he’s “really nervous” about returning to broadcasting full-time.

Not about what some people are going to think of him taking over the 700 WLW weekday morning drive-time show some 4 1/2 years after his inappropriate hot-mic moment cost him his job as the Cincinnati Reds’ television voice. And certainly not about slipping up and saying something inappropriate again on or off the air. He’s paid his dues and grown from his mistake.

But at 61, Brennaman is taking on a whole new career challenge. And he’s doing it on the station where his father, Marty, became a broadcasting legend calling Reds games. The younger Brennaman is jumping into a job held by other local radio legends, including Jim Scott and Mike McConnell, the latter who will officially sign off on Friday and turn the mic over to Brennaman.

There’s a lot of pressure in doing his first talk show after decades of doing TV and radio play-by-play work, and Brennaman is hungry to earn the listeners’ trust. He’s agreed to a three-year contract with WLW, a deal that’ll allow him to still call college football and basketball games for the CW Network.

“We came to Cincinnati when I was 10 years old because of my dad,” Brennaman told me. “So I’ve had some family or my own personal connection to WLW for 51 of my 61 years. WLW is a big deal. I hope I can live up to the people who’ve done this job before me.”

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He will.

Brennaman is a great hire for WLW. I’m not just saying that because I work there occasionally as a contributing host. He’s motivated and still at the top of his game. He’s a versatile guy who understands local and national politics. He’s truly sorry for making the homophobic slur in August 2020 during a commercial break while calling a Reds game in Kansas City.

He’s an even better man now. He has shown over the past several months calling games part-time on The CW that he’s deserving of the WLW job.

Brennaman’s nervousness also reflects how grateful he is for the opportunity to return on air regularly, a second-chance he feared may never come.

What’s great is he’ll have an opportunity to encourage others about bouncing back from mistakes and forgiveness for four fours each weekday on Greater Cincinnati’s top-rated radio station. Brennaman could’ve easily gone into hiding and never been heard from again. But it takes character to accept a mistake and face the people he hurt the most. He’s developed relationships and understanding with those who were hurt by his three-letter word.

“In so many ways, it’s been a great thing that happened to me,” Brennaman said. “The way it happened, of course, I wish it didn’t happen. You just have to find a way to keep the faith and keep going. Maybe I can help some people who are listening in that regard. It’s easy to say, ‘I blew it and I’m the worst person in the world.’ But how are you going to face that you made a mistake and bounce back?”

Brennaman has been preparing for months to replace the retiring McConnell. WLW leadership has been preparing for a wave of on-air hosts to begin retiring. Two years ago, this column mentioned Brennaman as a potential nice fit to get his own news talk show on WLW. He was invited to start filling in on the 9 p.m.-to-midnight show last fall.

Brennaman tapped into his relationships with folks across local media, politics and sports. He did a nice job balancing topics. His work sparked an internal conversation among station leaders to consider Brennaman for a full-time show. He’s spent the past several months talking to friends and colleagues about what it’ll take to succeed.

He’s hoping to do regular short segments with his dad on various topics and former Olympic distance runner Julie Isphording on health advice. Thom Brennaman, a Trump-supporting Republican, will talk some politics, something he’s long been passionate about.

“This is nothing like doing a sporting event,” Brennaman said. “When you’re calling a game, yes, you’re talking for three straight hours. But you’re describing something that’s going on in front of you. In talk radio, you have to balance guests and different segments, going in and out of breaks. I still don’t have a handle on how the clock works.”

It’s an extra challenge given the lifestyle change. Brennamen plans to wake up at 3:30 a.m. each day ahead of going on the air around 5:07 a.m. For advice, he reached out to long-time Local 12 morning show anchor Sheila Gray. Brennaman and Gray have known each other since going to journalism school at Ohio University. Gray is the dean of local morning anchors, waking up in the wee hours to appear on Cincinnati TV for more than 25 years.

“I’ve always been a morning person, but a morning person is not defined as 3:30 (a.m.),” Brennaman said. “Even when I was doing baseball, I’d still get up at 6:30-7 a.m. I’ve never been one of these planner guys, but I have to now. How long does it take to drive to the studio from my house? What about eating? What’s too much coffee? You drink too much coffee and it makes you feel awful the rest of the day. I don’t know yet how much sleep you need to do the show well. I’m trying to get a feel for all that.”

All good, though, Brennaman said, reflecting on his time out of a job.

He added: “Life just keeps changing and you gotta find a way to keep going with it.”

Contact columnist Jason Williams at jwilliams@enquirer.com

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Cincinnati Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn sat in a serene courtyard at The Breakers hotel Tuesday with a small media contingent that traveled to the NFL’s annual league meeting. Her plate has been full of late, with contracts for stars Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase, a negotiation ongoing with edge rusher Trey Hendrickson, and free agency.

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One matter of business that didn’t match the peacefulness of the surroundings has come to the forefront, though. A June 30 deadline to exercise the first of five two-year rolling extensions of the Paycor Stadium lease approaches. It will be an inflection point for keeping the Bengals on The Banks in downtown Cincinnati.

Blackburn said she’d prefer to be offering encouraging details of a deal coming together with Hamilton County and have an optimistic tone about the state of landing a renovation deal downtown.

That’s just not the case.

Instead, she could only reflect her tone of the negotiations as “neutral” and acknowledge a sizable gap doesn’t seem to be closing as the clock ticks.

“We wish there was a little more urgency and it was moving faster,” Blackburn said. “I do believe that the county would like to get something done. We just seem to be very slow in making it happen.”

The county unveiled renderings and details of a $1.3 billion renovation proposal in September, featuring new team training and headquarters, practice fields and increased connectivity to The Banks beyond the in-stadium updates.

Those served as a jumping-off point but did not necessarily share the same vision or financial investment as the Bengals would prefer. A series of contentious emails between VP Troy Blackburn and county administrator Jeff Aluotto surfaced in January reflecting a negotiation that wasn’t anywhere near completion or contentment with the direction of talks.

The county recently hired David Abrams of Inner Circle Sports, based in New York City, as a consultant in the negotiations. He has helped negotiate deals in Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville and Nashville. He arrived with a specific understanding of what should be in these types of deals with hopes of bridging the gap.

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Blackburn sees roadblocks despite everyone’s efforts.

“We’ve all been working really hard on looking at a lease extension and renovations that might be part of that,” she said. “And so there are a lot of great ideas out there. It’s just finding a way to bring it all together, make sure everyone’s on the same page, and pulling it together. We seem to have a lot of work to do to make that actually happen.”

Meanwhile, in Cleveland, the stadium discussions have remained ugly with lawsuits between the Browns and city of Cleveland over the ownership’s desire to move the team out of downtown and into an indoor stadium and entertainment district in suburban Brook Park. They are angling for proposed state funding to help cover the expenses of the $2.4 billion football mecca.

State funding could also be part of the solution in Cincinnati, but how much and to whom it goes are yet to be determined.

If the Bengals don’t reach a deal or exercise the first two-year extension by June 30, the lease will officially expire on June 30, 2026.

The Bengals at that point, theoretically, would be free to find other options.

“We could, I guess, go wherever we wanted after this year if we didn’t pick the option up,” Blackburn said. “We’ll see. Like I said, all these things will be done in due course. We are having discussions, and so we’re hopeful that the county is thinking about it a lot, too, and wants to get it addressed in a way that would be beneficial to both of us.”

All this brings up the obvious question, posed to Blackburn: If a deal can’t be reached with the county, is there a possibility the team would be open to moving to another county in Ohio or Kentucky?

“We love where we are,” Blackburn said. “I’m a big proponent of being downtown. I think that’s a great thing for the city. I think the location of the stadium right now is good. I think our stadium, obviously, needs to continue to be maintained appropriately, and you want to keep it at a certain level. That’s important just so that we’re competitive with others.”

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There’s been a building boom of sorts in the NFL, with nearly a third of the clubs dealing with stadium issues.

The Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars and Baltimore Ravens recently approved renovations of existing downtown stadiums. The Tennessee Titans, Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns (pending) are building new, multibillion-dollar stadiums. The Kansas City Chiefs are weighing a move to Kansas after Missouri voters rejected a renovation proposal. The Chicago Bears are potentially moving out of downtown to suburban Arlington Heights.

Considering the Bengals’ situation and actions across the NFL landscape, Blackburn was then asked whether other counties have reached out to check on the possibility of a move.

“It’s not where we are focused at the moment,” she said.

The overall theme from Blackburn is that the Bengals’ situation is no different from the rest of the NFL. They want to stay downtown in a renovated Paycor Stadium, but there’s concern from ownership about the lack of urgency in finding a deal to make that happen.

“At the end of the day, I guess we’re playing it one day at a time,” Blackburn said. “We’ll just have to see where it all goes.”

(Photo: Phil Didion / Imagn Images)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor provided the latest update on the ongoing contract saga with defensive end Trey Hendrickson from the NFL’s annual meetings.

Hendrickson is seeking a new deal from the Bengals and was given permission to seek a trade from Cincinnati before free agency started. Multiple teams showed interest in Hendrickson a source told The Enquirer, but the Bengals opted not to deal their star edge rusher likely due to compensation. For the Bengals to go through with a trade for Hendrickson, they want to feel good about what they would receive in return.

Trey Hendrickson contract situation with Bengals

To this point, the Bengals and Hendrickson haven’t been able to come to an agreement on what both sides believe is fair for a new deal. Hendrickson wants to be rewarded for his production and believes his contract should resemble what the market is paying for top players at his position.

Taylor was asked several questions about Hendrickson’s status during the AFC coaches’ breakfast on Monday.

“Trey’s been a big part of our team and so again we want to work through it with him and his agent,” Taylor said. “We’ll just see where it goes.”

Bengals director of personnel Duke Tobin said the franchise acknowledges that Hendrickson deserves a raise, but the two sides have yet to agree on what the numbers look like. The market has also reset a few times with Maxx Crosby, Myles Garrett and Danielle Hunter all getting new deals. This directly impacts Hendrickson and the Bengals as they continue negotiations because it brings more data points to the conversation.

How much will Trey Hendrickson want in a new contract?

It’s unrealistic to think Hendrickson would be willing to accept a contract that doesn’t look similar to Hunter’s deal with the Houston Texans because of a few reasons, mostly age as both players are 30 years old and production. Hunter signed a one-year extension worth $35.6 million and will make $54.1 million in fully guaranteed money in the next two seasons.

Hendrickson has outperformed Hunter over the course of his four seasons with the Bengals with 57 sacks in 65 games, including 17.5 in each of the last two seasons. Hunter logged 12 sacks last year in Houston after eight years in Minnesota where he totaled 87.5 sacks.

Taylor stressed patience as the Bengals and Hendrickson try to work though the situation that’s been ongoing for two years now. Hendrickson requested a trade last year in the offseason due to displeasure with this contract. He ultimately accepted the terms of his current deal with expectation he would be rewarded with a new deal this offseason and that’s where things stand currently. Hendrickson’s average annaul salary of $21 million expected for the upcoming season ranks outside the top 10 for his position, according to Spotrac.

“Just be patient with the process,” Cincinnati’s head coach said.

Bengals new contracts this offseason

The Bengals gave Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins new deals already leaving Hendrickson as the only star player in Cincinnati seeking a new deal. Hendrickson remains steadfast in his desire to stay with the Bengals and the hope for both sides is that they can agree on a new deal soon.

Time is an important part the conversation, though. The Bengals didn’t sign any defensive ends in free agency which makes it even more unlikely the team trades Hendrickson. But if the two sides are still far enough apart right now, the trade conversation won’t go away until after the NFL draft at the end of April.

While it doesn’t appear to be in the Bengals’ plans to deal Hendrickson, it could still be the best option if they don’t think they can come to an agreement with him. The trade would have to be agreed upon likely before the end of the second day of the NFL draft. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where the Bengals move Hendrickson after the draft because draft capital is what the Bengals would need to replace him.

And this is why the next few weeks are critical for Hendrickson and the Bengals to try and find a resolution that appeases both sides.