diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 33e417c9..f819667a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -170,6 +170,11 @@ if (CIVETWEB_ENABLE_SSL)
   message(STATUS "Dynamically load SSL libraries - ${CIVETWEB_ENABLE_SSL_DYNAMIC_LOADING}")
 endif()
 
+# Third Party Download location
+set(CIVETWEB_THIRD_PARTY_DIR "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/third_party" CACHE STRING
+  "The location that third party code is downloaded, built and installed")
+set_property(CACHE CIVETWEB_THIRD_PARTY_DIR PROPERTY VALUE ${CIVETWEB_THIRD_PARTY_DIR})
+
 # Unix systems can define the dynamic library names to load
 if (CIVETWEB_ENABLE_SSL_DYNAMIC_LOADING AND NOT DARWIN AND UNIX)
   # SSL library name
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 053fb2d5..e1c4cf04 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ if (CIVETWEB_ENABLE_LUA)
     ExternalProject_Add(lua
       URL "http://www.lua.org/ftp/lua-${CIVETWEB_LUA_VERSION}.tar.gz"
       URL_MD5 ${CIVETWEB_LUA_MD5_HASH}
-      PREFIX "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/third_party"
+      PREFIX "${CIVETWEB_THIRD_PARTY_DIR}"
       CONFIGURE_COMMAND ""
       BUILD_COMMAND ${LUA_BUILD_COMMAND}
       BUILD_IN_SOURCE 1
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ if (CIVETWEB_ENABLE_LUA)
   ExternalProject_Add(luafilesystem
     URL "https://github.com/keplerproject/luafilesystem/archive/v_${LUA_FILESYSTEM_VERSION_UNDERSCORE}.tar.gz"
     URL_MD5 ${CIVETWEB_LUA_FILESYSTEM_MD5_HASH}
-    PREFIX "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/third_party"
+    PREFIX "${CIVETWEB_THIRD_PARTY_DIR}"
     PATCH_COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy
       "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/luafilesystem/CMakeLists.txt" <SOURCE_DIR>/CMakeLists.txt
     CMAKE_ARGS
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ if (CIVETWEB_ENABLE_LUA)
   ExternalProject_Add(luasqlite
     URL "http://lua.sqlite.org/index.cgi/zip/${LUA_SQLITE_FILENAME}"
     URL_MD5 ${CIVETWEB_LUA_SQLITE_MD5_HASH}
-    PREFIX "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/third_party"
+    PREFIX "${CIVETWEB_THIRD_PARTY_DIR}"
     PATCH_COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy
       "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/luasqlite/CMakeLists.txt" <SOURCE_DIR>/CMakeLists.txt
     CMAKE_ARGS
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ if (CIVETWEB_ENABLE_LUA)
   ExternalProject_Add(luaxml
     URL "http://viremo.eludi.net/LuaXML/${LUA_XML_FILENAME}"
     URL_MD5 ${CIVETWEB_LUA_XML_MD5_HASH}
-    PREFIX "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/third_party"
+    PREFIX "${CIVETWEB_THIRD_PARTY_DIR}"
     PATCH_COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy
       "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/luaxml/CMakeLists.txt" <SOURCE_DIR>/CMakeLists.txt
     CMAKE_ARGS
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ if (CIVETWEB_ENABLE_LUA)
   ExternalProject_Add(sqlite
     URL "http://www.sqlite.org/2015/sqlite-amalgamation-${SQLITE_FILE_VERSION}.zip"
     URL_MD5 ${CIVETWEB_SQLITE_MD5_HASH}
-    PREFIX "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/third_party"
+    PREFIX "${CIVETWEB_THIRD_PARTY_DIR}"
     PATCH_COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy
       "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/sqlite/CMakeLists.txt" <SOURCE_DIR>/CMakeLists.txt
     CMAKE_ARGS
diff --git a/test/CMakeLists.txt b/test/CMakeLists.txt
index d8ed63a3..1dd086ed 100644
--- a/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ ExternalProject_Add(check-unit-test-framework
   DEPENDS c-library
   URL "https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/check/check/${CIVETWEB_CHECK_VERSION}/check-${CIVETWEB_CHECK_VERSION}.tar.gz"
   URL_MD5 ${CIVETWEB_CHECK_MD5_HASH}
-  PREFIX "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/third_party"
+  PREFIX "${CIVETWEB_THIRD_PARTY_DIR}"
   BUILD_IN_SOURCE 1
   PATCH_COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND}
     -DSOURCE_DIR=<SOURCE_DIR>