diff --git a/env.sh b/env.sh
index aeb4a1f..fafdc24 100644
--- a/env.sh
+++ b/env.sh
@@ -12,18 +12,12 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 # sourcing this file is needed to make local development and integration testing work
-export VOLTHA_BASE=${PWD}
 
-# load local python virtualenv if exists, otherwise create it
-VENVDIR="venv-$(uname -s | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')"
-if [ ! -e "${VENVDIR}/.built" ]; then
-    echo "~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"
-    echo "Initializing OS-appropriate virtual env."
-    echo "This will take a few minutes."
-    echo "~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"
-    make venv
+# load local python virtualenv if exists
+VENVDIR="venv-pyvoltha"
+if [ -e "$VENVDIR/bin/activate" ]; then
+    . $VENVDIR/bin/activate
+else
+   echo "Run 'make venv' to setup python development environment"
 fi
-. ${VENVDIR}/bin/activate
 
-# add top-level voltha dir to pythonpath
-export PYTHONPATH=${VOLTHA_BASE}/${VENVDIR}/lib/python2.7/site-packages:${VOLTHA_BASE}/pyvoltha:${VOLTHA_BASE}/pyvoltha/protos/third_party