diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Build/Jenkins/systemtests b/Code/Mantid/Build/Jenkins/systemtests
index 16f29a98e56b7c0921a00b616085bd92811e07d9..e955eb7083e95096d51625a776bb43d61ca0d8de 100755
--- a/Code/Mantid/Build/Jenkins/systemtests
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Build/Jenkins/systemtests
@@ -17,11 +17,11 @@ echo "SHA1=${sha1}"
 ###############################################################################
 # Set up the location for the local object store outside of the build and
 # source tree, which can be shared by multiple builds.
-# It defaults to the parent directory of the workspace but can be overridden
-# by setting the MANTID_DATA_STORE environment variable.
+# It defaults to a MantidExternalData directory within the HOME directory.
+# It can be overridden by setting the MANTID_DATA_STORE environment variable.
 ###############################################################################
 if [ -z "$MANTID_DATA_STORE" ]; then
-  export MANTID_DATA_STORE=$(dirname $WORKSPACE)
+  export MANTID_DATA_STORE=$HOME/MantidExternalData
 fi
 
 ###############################################################################