diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/inc/MantidKernel/ConfigService.h b/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/inc/MantidKernel/ConfigService.h
index 0fb86714ff218acf9acc21def2c5e4a7c50b9bc4..cce37d206441deb5e33c39ff6662bf144e543cb3 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/inc/MantidKernel/ConfigService.h
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/inc/MantidKernel/ConfigService.h
@@ -123,6 +123,8 @@ namespace Mantid
       // Searches for a configuration property and returns its value
       template<typename T>
       int getValue(const std::string& keyName, T& out);
+      /// Return the local properties filename.
+      std::string getLocalFilename() const;
       /// Return the user properties filename
       std::string getUserFilename() const;
 
diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/src/ConfigService.cpp b/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/src/ConfigService.cpp
index fd506445a5afcae15595b5695931c2321369d418..133f7e9393a7b37d7c8490f16b1709a53300d1bd 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/src/ConfigService.cpp
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/src/ConfigService.cpp
@@ -179,6 +179,8 @@ ConfigServiceImpl::ConfigServiceImpl() :
   updateConfig(getPropertiesDir() + m_properties_file_name, false, false);
   propertiesFilesList = getPropertiesDir() + m_properties_file_name;
 
+  updateConfig(getLocalFilename(), true, false);
+
   if (Poco::Environment::has("MANTIDPROPERTIES"))
   {
     //and then append the user properties
@@ -866,9 +868,22 @@ int ConfigServiceImpl::getValue(const std::string& keyName, T& out)
   return result;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Return the full filename of the local properties file.
+ * @returns A string containing the full path to the local file.
+ */
+std::string ConfigServiceImpl::getLocalFilename() const
+{
+#ifdef _WIN32
+  return "";
+#else
+  return "/etc/mantid.local.properties";
+#endif
+}
+
 /**
  * Return the full filename of the user properties file
- * @returns A string containg the full path to the user file
+ * @returns A string containing the full path to the user file
  */
 std::string ConfigServiceImpl::getUserFilename() const
 {