diff --git a/phing/build.xml b/phing/build.xml
index 511b34167e..be51898d95 100644
--- a/phing/build.xml
+++ b/phing/build.xml
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@
   </if>
 
   <!--Increase PHP memory limit. -->
-  <php expression="ini_set('memory_limit', '1G');" level="verbose" />
+  <property name="php.memory_limit" value="2G" override="false" />
+  <echo>Setting memory allocation to ${php.memory_limit}</echo>
+  <php expression="ini_set('memory_limit', '${php.memory_limit}');" verbose="true" />
 
   <!--@todo Warn if Windows is being used.-->
 
diff --git a/phing/tasks/properties.xml b/phing/tasks/properties.xml
index 677307fbbd..f4c4bd1adb 100644
--- a/phing/tasks/properties.xml
+++ b/phing/tasks/properties.xml
@@ -1,14 +1,5 @@
 <project name="properties" default="build">
 
-  <!-- Set the memory limit for php. -->
-  <if>
-    <isset property="php.mem_limit"/>
-    <then>
-      <echo>Setting memory allocation to ${php.mem_limit}</echo>
-      <php expression="ini_set('memory_limit', '${php.mem_limit}');"/>
-    </then>
-  </if>
-
   <!-- Define the repo root as a property, and resolve to an absolute file path. -->
   <!-- We assume that Phing is running in vendor/acquia/blt/phing of a parent project. -->
   <property name="repo.root.relative" value="${phing.dir}/../../../.." logoutput="false"/>