A rooftop bar and restaurant with views to Galway Bay and the city will be a key feature of a new €40m four-star hotel expected to open by Christmas on Crown Square in Mervue.

The third largest in Galway with 177 bedrooms over eight floors, it will be the first Radisson Red hotel in Ireland, following in the footsteps of the multi-award-winning Radisson Red Glasgow and the flagship Radisson Red Liverpool.

Marketed as an “upper-upscale hotel brand that presents a playful twist on the conventional”, a local artist will be hired to create bespoke art works for the large open plan lobby.

Office workers at the new Galway City Council offices across the courtyard as well as the hundreds of people employed in the nearby IDA business park and Thermo King are the customers being targeted for the new development, owned by Galway developers JJ Rhatigan.

The rooftop bar with panoramic views will seat 150 people, with dining for up to 160 on the ground floor. There will be a large outdoor heated patio off the lobby facing onto a courtyard with a barbeque area. There will be no leisure centre or spa as part of the new hotel.

It is likely to attract corporate clients with its nine meeting rooms, more than 400sqm of meeting and event space, including a 300sqm conference space which can be split into two individual meeting rooms, in addition to a 200sqm breakout space.

When the Crown Square complex — encompassing a residential block with 288 apartments and five office buildings is complete — there will be a running and cycling track encircling the campus, explains CEO of Radisson Red Galway and Radisson Blu Royal Dublin, Madeline Riley.

“Radisson Red is a very vibrant, fund brand, it’s all about culture and lifestyle, it will have great social spaces, it will be very buzzy, social media loves the brand,” she gushed during a quick peep of the site this week with the Galway City Tribune.