An exciting new cultural venue next to the Pálás Cinema on Lower Merchants Road will be managed by Galway Arts Centre.
Originally granted planning permission in 2024, the Galway City Council has now advertised a €10 million tender to construct a new civic centre and indoor cultural space for the city, including social housing above it.
A five-storey building, designed by Hall McKnight, will replace a row of terraced properties on Merchants Road facing the rear of the House Hotel. These houses have been lying vacant for more than two decades.
In 2024, An Bord Pleanála granted permission to Galway City Council to demolish 17-20 Lower Merchants Road. Its grant permits replacing the terrace with a mixed use development consisting of a café, cultural venue, 12 apartments and a roof terrace to open during daytime only.
Twelve social housing apartments will be located in four storeys above the cultural centre, in a tender advertised with a €10 million price tag. Once a contractor has been confirmed, works are expected to begin in 2027, with a completion date in 2031.
Galway City Council will fund the project alongside an unspecified grant from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
The ground floor consists of a 64 sqm café, with a large, 172 sqm primary cultural space, and a second 47 sqm indoor space. An outdoor, 56sqm space is also included. Together this provides multi-use arts spaces adding up to larger than a competition tennis court - a resource acutely lacking in Galway city.
Galway Arts Centre is understood to have been selected by the city council to run the city’s cultural hub, subject to a ratification vote by councillors in December.
Four years ago, the Arts Council made a submission to the 2023-2029 City Development Plan which complained about the poor upkeep of council-owned arts infrastructure, including the City Arts Centre’s home in a Georgian townhouse on Dominick Street.
In May this year, the centre received a €170,000 historic building grant to repair its roof, which it shares with Áras na nGael next door.
The council-owned building had been rumoured to be a possible location for a Michael D Higgins presidential library, but in June, 2025, former president Higgins donated his records to the University of Galway.
It is unclear if the Arts Centre will now move to Merchants Road after construction, or operate dual sites.
