🏗️ Something You've Never Seen: A House Built for a House

Welcome back to PropTech Pool – your weekly deep-dive where heritage icons wear “see-through temporary houses”, AI bulldozes bureaucracy, and low-carbon hacks land straight in your toolbox.

This issue at a glance

• Conservation, but make it theatre – Scotland’s Hill House now sits inside a shimmering “dry-box,” letting visitors watch every step of the repair from elevated walkways.

• AI procurement – Swiss startup Scalera has fresh funding and a plan to shave months (and millions) off public tenders.

• Tactical tip – a five-minute embodied-carbon scan can cut your footprint before the first cost plan even lands.

• Cork cladding – turns out the same material that seals wine bottles can weather rain, fire and CFO scrutiny.

Ready to make a splash? Let’s dive in. 🏊‍♂️

🏗️ Conservation with a Twist: A Temporary House for a House

How do you rescue an icon without shutting the doors? Scotland’s Hill House-Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s masterpiece perched above the River Clyde-has a radical answer: wrap the whole thing in a semi-transparent, “big box” museum.

Why it’s bold:

• Conservation as Spectacle: Instead of hiding the restoration, Carmody Groarke have turned the Hill House Box turns it into the main event. Visitors can watch the painstaking repair work unfold from elevated walkways looping around and above the house.

• Drying Room, Not Tomb: The stainless-steel mesh enclosure acts as a giant “drying room,” letting the rain-soaked walls breathe and recover.

• Still Open for Business: The house stays accessible throughout the process, with visitor facilities, a café, and a shop all inside the temporary structure.

• The long game: This isn’t a quick fix, the enclosure could be in place for up to 15 years, giving conservators the time and space to do the job right.

🤖 Scalera: AI to Get Europe Building Again

Europe might be famous for its historic architecture, but when it comes to new builds, things typically move at a snail’s pace. Enter Swiss startup Scalera, making waves with a fresh €5.7 million raise to inject AI into public construction procurement and kickstart Europe’s next building boom.

What’s the splash?

• AI-Powered Procurement: Scalera’s platform uses artificial intelligence to automate the red tape, streamline public tendering, and cut out costly delays.

• Radical Transparency: Digitizing the process helps governments and contractors find the right partners, boost compliance, and keep projects moving.

• Faster Building, Lower Costs: With AI handling the paperwork and analysis, projects can move from planning to breaking ground much quicker.

  Why does it matter?

• Unlocking Growth: Europe’s construction sector faces labour shortages, rising costs and a mountain of bureaucracy. AI-driven procurement could be the key to unblocking billions in stalled projects.

• Setting the Standard: If Scalera’s model takes off, expect a ripple effect. AI-powered procurement could become the new norm across public and private construction projects.

♻️ Cork as an Exterior Finish?

What if the greenest building material was hiding in plain sight? Roar Architects’ Nina’s House shows how a renewable, natural material can be used as a striking and sustainable exterior cladding.

Why it’s making waves:

• Nature’s Own Tech: Cork isn’t just for wine bottles. It’s naturally waterproof, fire-resistant, and a top-notch insulator, outperforming plenty of standard cladding options.

• Harvested, Not Hacked: Cork is peeled from the tree without cutting it down, making it a truly renewable resource.

• Durable & Maintenance-Free: Cork weathers beautifully and requires minimal upkeep, making it a practical choice for long-term sustainability.

• Future-planning: The cork should last for 15-25 years, with the plan to render over it with lime, giving it a fresh look for many more years.

Poolside Team takeaway:
Cork proves that sustainability doesn’t have to mean compromise. By turning to natural and renewable materials, projects like Nina’s House are rewriting the rulebook for eco-friendly design, one cork tile at a time.