diff --git a/qt/CMakeLists.txt b/qt/CMakeLists.txt
index f32ea2d43b601759de7fee94d1e408599e404bc2..5bcca3a84f43a0d8723d663eaabf3accb59a6999 100644
--- a/qt/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/qt/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -12,3 +12,5 @@ add_subdirectory ( scientific_interfaces )
 if ( MAKE_VATES )
   add_subdirectory ( paraview_ext )
 endif ( MAKE_VATES )
+
+add_subdirectory ( applications )
diff --git a/qt/applications/CMakeLists.txt b/qt/applications/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..9f3b24031dac17e75b99600e31837e672e9e1ca8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qt/applications/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# All source files
+set ( PYTHON_SOURCE_FILES
+  workbench/__init__.py
+)
+
+set ( PYTHON_TEST_FILES
+  workbench/test/import_test.py
+)
+
+# Target
+add_python_package ( TARGET_NAME workbench
+  OUTPUT_DIR ${PYTHON_MODULE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_NO_GEN_EXPR}
+  SRCS ${PYTHON_SOURCE_FILES}
+  TEST_SRCS ${PYTHON_TEST_FILES}
+)
+
+# Not installed yet...
diff --git a/qt/applications/workbench/__init__.py b/qt/applications/workbench/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..fd960c8784b674ca7351e1e36326ef86722be654
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qt/applications/workbench/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#    This file is part of the mantid workbench.
+#
+#    Copyright (C) 2017 mantidproject
+#
+#    This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+#    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+#    the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+#    (at your option) any later version.
+#
+#    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+#    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+#    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+#    GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+#    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+#    along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+"""
+workbench
+---------
+
+This package contains the mantidproject's Qt-based workbench. It is the primary
+GUI for interacting with the mantid reduction and analysis package.
+"""
+
+# This file should be free from Qt imports to keep it lightweight to import
+# and check metadata.
diff --git a/qt/applications/workbench/test/import_test.py b/qt/applications/workbench/test/import_test.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..beee8ecb2b608d5e2bd55723b63fd59c9df6b6ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qt/applications/workbench/test/import_test.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function,
+                        unicode_literals)
+
+import unittest
+
+
+class ImportTest(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_import_workbench(self):
+        import workbench # noqa
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()