diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 99c7fb9eb8..e1c0ab8bd3 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -15,7 +15,10 @@ Desktop DF
 *.NavData
 *.rej
 *.conflict
+*.iml
 # Eclipse Files
 .project
 .classpath
 .settings
+.vagrant
+.idea
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Vagrantfile b/Vagrantfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f94f3da2bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Vagrantfile
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+# -*- mode: ruby -*-
+# vi: set ft=ruby :
+
+# WHY?: The SCM-Manager Maven 'release' profile fails on Windows host due to missing character escaping in plugin i.e.
+#    [ERROR] Failed to execute goal sonia.maven:web-compressor:1.5:partial-compress-template (default) \
+#            on project scm-webapp: Execution default of goal sonia.maven:web-compressor:1.5:partial-compress-template \
+#            failed: character to be escaped is missingBuilding on Windows
+
+# Create Linux build environment
+# Install Vagrant and VirtualBox on a Windows host
+#   choco install VirtualBox
+#   choco install vagrant
+# Install vagrant plugin to install VirtualBox Guest Additions and allow mounted folders
+#   vagrant plugin install vagrant-vbguest
+# Start the centos VM (This can take some time):
+#   vagrant up
+# Log into the vagrant box:
+#   vagrant ssh
+#   $ cd /vagrant
+# Build scm-manager and install artifacts to local maven cache
+# The 'release' profile also compresses the javascript resources
+#   $ mvn clean install -P release -Dmaven.test.skip=true -DskipTests
+# Now start the Jetty instance to test it on http://localhost:8080
+#   $ mvn jetty:run-war -Dmaven.test.skip=true -DskipTests -f scm-webapp.pom.xml
+
+
+# If regularaly re-building the VM, the vagrant up step can be slow
+# Package the pre-built VM and use that as the starting point for your builds.
+#    vagrant package --output target/scm-manager-builder.box
+# Add this box to the vagrant box cache
+#    vagrant box add --name scm-manager-builder target/scm-manager-builder.box
+# Destroy the current instance of the box
+#    vagrant destroy
+# Start a new instance with the pre-provisioned box
+# NOTE: Only need to declare the VAGRANT_BOX for the 'up' command
+#    VAGRANT_BOX=scm-manager-builder vagrant up
+# If you want to re-run the provision $script
+#    vagrant reload --provision
+
+vagrantBox = ENV['VAGRANT_BOX']
+if not vagrantBox
+  vagrantBox = 'centos/7'
+end
+
+$script = <<HEREDOC
+echo "Provisioning script running as $(whoami)"
+echo "Install packages required to build and host scm-manager"
+yum install -y java-1.7.0-openjdk-devel maven mercurial
+HEREDOC
+
+
+Vagrant.configure(2) do |config|
+  config.vm.box = vagrantBox
+  config.vm.define 'scm-manager-builder'
+  config.vm.provider 'virtualbox' do |provider_vm|
+    provider_vm.name = 'scm-manager-builder'
+    provider_vm.memory = 4096
+    # Compiling is CPU intensive; increase if necessary
+    provider_vm.cpus = 4
+  end
+  config.vm.network "forwarded_port", guest: 8081, host: 8081
+  # Default Vagrant rsync of the local folder used to avoid build issues
+  config.vm.synced_folder ".", "/vagrant", disabled: true
+  # Create mounted folder instead; used to copy build artifacts back out to developer host
+  # REQUIRES: vagrant plugin 'vagrant-vbguest'
+  config.vm.synced_folder ".", "/scm-manager", automount: true, mount_options: ["dmode=770,fmode=660"]
+
+  config.vm.provision :shell, inline: $script
+end
\ No newline at end of file