diff --git a/build-spring-integration/build.xml b/build-spring-integration/build.xml
index a7494d4711..201960a047 100644
--- a/build-spring-integration/build.xml
+++ b/build-spring-integration/build.xml
@@ -8,8 +8,7 @@
 		<pathelement location="../spring-integration-samples"/>
 	</path>
 
-	<property name="integration.repo.dir" value="${basedir}/../integration-repo"/>
-
+	<property file="${basedir}/../build.properties"/>
 	<import file="../spring-build/multi-bundle/default.xml"/>
 
 </project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build.properties b/build.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8650281619
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version=0.5.0
+ivy.cache.dir=${basedir}/../ivy-cache
+integration.repo.dir=${basedir}/../integration-repo
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/spring-integration-core/build.xml b/spring-integration-core/build.xml
index 0a554b9e0c..eabc135d23 100644
--- a/spring-integration-core/build.xml
+++ b/spring-integration-core/build.xml
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <project name="spring-integration-core">
 
-	<property name="version" value="0.5-SNAPSHOT"/>
-	<property name="integration.repo.dir" value="${basedir}/../integration-repo"/>
-
+	<property file="${basedir}/../build.properties"/>
 	<import file="../spring-build/standard/default.xml"/>
 
 </project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/spring-integration-docs/build.xml b/spring-integration-docs/build.xml
index 8bab5f7c01..143b912878 100644
--- a/spring-integration-docs/build.xml
+++ b/spring-integration-docs/build.xml
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <project name="spring-integration-docs" default="reference">
 
-	<property name="integration.repo.dir" value="${basedir}/../integration-repo"/>
-
+	<property file="${basedir}/../build.properties"/>
 	<import file="../spring-build/documentation/default.xml"/>
 
 </project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/spring-integration-samples/build.xml b/spring-integration-samples/build.xml
index ea601c25e4..2543057c45 100644
--- a/spring-integration-samples/build.xml
+++ b/spring-integration-samples/build.xml
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <project name="spring-integration-samples">
 
-	<property name="version" value="0.5-SNAPSHOT"/>
-	<property name="integration.repo.dir" value="${basedir}/../integration-repo"/>
-
+	<property file="${basedir}/../build.properties"/>
 	<import file="../spring-build/standard/default.xml"/>
 
 </project>