diff --git a/gitlab/before_build.sh b/gitlab/before_build.sh
index 79b20d317089fd31c0b008d51111b1f53737d77c..9491d556ce1b6543e2a9ee502930e77f5bbcedaa 100755
--- a/gitlab/before_build.sh
+++ b/gitlab/before_build.sh
@@ -4,16 +4,13 @@
 source $(dirname ${0})/functions.sh
 
 # checks if a conda installation exists. Otherwise, install one
-if [ ! -e ${CONDA_FOLDER}/bin/conda ]; then
-  install_miniconda ${CONDA_FOLDER}
+if [ ! -e ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/conda ]; then
+  install_miniconda ${CONDA_ROOT}
 fi
 
-# moves the cache to conda folder
-mkdir -p ${CONDA_FOLDER}/pkgs
-touch ${CONDA_FOLDER}/pkgs/urls
-touch ${CONDA_FOLDER}/pkgs/urls.txt
-
-merge_conda_cache ${CONDA_FOLDER}/pkgs ${CONDA_ENVS_PATH}/.pkgs
+mkdir -p ${CONDA_ROOT}/pkgs
+touch ${CONDA_ROOT}/pkgs/urls
+touch ${CONDA_ROOT}/pkgs/urls.txt
 
 cat <<EOF > ${CONDARC}
 default_channels:
@@ -25,22 +22,22 @@ EOF
 echo "Contents of \`${CONDARC}':"
 cat ${CONDARC}
 
-run_cmd ${CONDA_FOLDER}/bin/conda config --set add_pip_as_python_dependency false
-run_cmd ${CONDA_FOLDER}/bin/conda config --set always_yes yes --set changeps1 no
-run_cmd ${CONDA_FOLDER}/bin/conda config --set always_yes true
-run_cmd ${CONDA_FOLDER}/bin/conda config --set show_channel_urls true
-run_cmd ${CONDA_FOLDER}/bin/conda config --set anaconda_upload no
-run_cmd ${CONDA_FOLDER}/bin/conda config --add channels ${CONDA_CHANNEL}
+run_cmd ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/conda config --set add_pip_as_python_dependency false
+run_cmd ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/conda config --set always_yes yes --set changeps1 no
+run_cmd ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/conda config --set always_yes true
+run_cmd ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/conda config --set show_channel_urls true
+run_cmd ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/conda config --set anaconda_upload no
+run_cmd ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/conda config --add channels ${CONDA_CHANNEL}
 if [ -z "${CI_COMMIT_TAG}" ]; then
-  run_cmd ${CONDA_FOLDER}/bin/conda config --add channels ${CONDA_BETA_CHANNEL}
+  run_cmd ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/conda config --add channels ${CONDA_BETA_CHANNEL}
 fi
-run_cmd ${CONDA_FOLDER}/bin/conda config --set ssl_verify false
+run_cmd ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/conda config --set ssl_verify false
 
 # updates conda installation
-run_cmd ${CONDA_FOLDER}/bin/conda install --quiet --yes python conda=4.4 curl conda-build=3
+run_cmd ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/conda install --quiet --yes python conda=4.4 curl conda-build=3
 
 # cleans up
-run_cmd ${CONDA_FOLDER}/bin/conda clean --lock
+run_cmd ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/conda clean --lock
 
 # print conda information for debugging purposes
-run_cmd ${CONDA_FOLDER}/bin/conda info
+run_cmd ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/conda info
diff --git a/gitlab/build.sh b/gitlab/build.sh
index a953aa9436417820c8aa626df0115c870c1c6217..d7275ea2a339a4b7d6cc133956cdb19947444378 100755
--- a/gitlab/build.sh
+++ b/gitlab/build.sh
@@ -4,22 +4,19 @@
 source $(dirname ${0})/functions.sh
 
 # Makes sure we activate the base environment if available
-run_cmd source ${CONDA_FOLDER}/etc/profile.d/conda.sh
+run_cmd source ${CONDA_ROOT}/etc/profile.d/conda.sh
 run_cmd conda activate base
 
 run_cmd mkdir -p ./_ci/${OS_SLUG}/${PYTHON_VERSION}
 
 if [ -z "${CI_COMMIT_TAG}" ]; then
-  run_cmd ${CONDA_FOLDER}/bin/python _ci/channel_support.py ${CONDA_BETA_CHANNEL} ${CI_PROJECT_NAME} ${BOB_PACKAGE_VERSION} ${PYTHON_VERSION} -u --log ./_ci/${OS_SLUG}/${PYTHON_VERSION}/build_number.txt
+  run_cmd ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/python _ci/channel_support.py ${CONDA_BETA_CHANNEL} ${CI_PROJECT_NAME} ${BOB_PACKAGE_VERSION} ${PYTHON_VERSION} -u --log ./_ci/${OS_SLUG}/${PYTHON_VERSION}/build_number.txt
 else
-  run_cmd ${CONDA_FOLDER}/bin/python _ci/channel_support.py ${CONDA_CHANNEL} ${CI_PROJECT_NAME} ${BOB_PACKAGE_VERSION} ${PYTHON_VERSION} -u --log ./_ci/${OS_SLUG}/${PYTHON_VERSION}/build_number.txt
+  run_cmd ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/python _ci/channel_support.py ${CONDA_CHANNEL} ${CI_PROJECT_NAME} ${BOB_PACKAGE_VERSION} ${PYTHON_VERSION} -u --log ./_ci/${OS_SLUG}/${PYTHON_VERSION}/build_number.txt
 
 fi
 
 BOB_BUILD_NUMBER=`head -n 1 ./_ci/${OS_SLUG}/${PYTHON_VERSION}/build_number.txt | tr -d '\n'`
 export_env BOB_BUILD_NUMBER
 
-run_cmd ${CONDA_FOLDER}/bin/conda build --variant-config-files _ci/conda_build_config.yaml --quiet --python=${PYTHON_VERSION} conda
-
-# Move the cache to conda env folder to cache it
-merge_conda_cache ${CONDA_ENVS_PATH}/.pkgs ${CONDA_FOLDER}/pkgs
+run_cmd ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/conda build --variant-config-files _ci/conda_build_config.yaml --quiet --python=${PYTHON_VERSION} conda
diff --git a/gitlab/functions.sh b/gitlab/functions.sh
index 5b4267bd407c9f4dff097bacddb0109d3a633ba5..a62de9707fd0bbd07a3178071133d280b2eef75a 100644
--- a/gitlab/functions.sh
+++ b/gitlab/functions.sh
@@ -346,10 +346,6 @@ check_env OSNAME
 check_env VISIBILITY
 check_env IS_MASTER
 
-if [ -z "${CONDA_FOLDER}" ]; then
-  CONDA_FOLDER=/opt/miniconda
-fi
-
 PYVER=py$(echo ${PYTHON_VERSION} | tr -d '.')
 
 if [ -z "${DOCSERVER}" ]; then
@@ -360,6 +356,9 @@ fi
 CONDA_CHANNEL="${DOCSERVER}/public/conda/label/main"
 CONDA_BETA_CHANNEL="${DOCSERVER}/private/conda"
 
+# Sets up the location of our rc file for conda
+CONDARC=${CONDA_ROOT}/condarc
+
 if [ -z "${OS_SLUG}" ]; then
   OS_SLUG="${OSNAME}-64"
 fi
@@ -372,9 +371,10 @@ check_env PREFIX
 export_env PREFIX
 check_env DOCSERVER
 check_env TESTSERVER
-check_env CONDA_FOLDER
+check_env CONDA_ROOT
 check_env CONDA_CHANNEL
 check_env CONDA_BETA_CHANNEL
+export_env CONDARC
 
 # Setup default documentation server
 if [ -z "${CI_COMMIT_TAG}" ]; then
@@ -439,7 +439,3 @@ LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
 LC_ALL="${LANG}"
 export_env LANG
 export_env LC_ALL
-
-# Sets up the location of our rc file for conda
-CONDARC=${CONDA_FOLDER}/condarc
-export_env CONDARC