diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index dcf4311665..31612c89a2 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ commands:
           name: Build docker image and push to repo
           command: |
             docker version
-            docker build -t app:build -f << parameters.dockerfile >> .
+            docker build -t app:build --build-arg DJANGO_VERSION -f << parameters.dockerfile >> .
             docker tag app:build "${DOCKERHUB_REPO}":<< parameters.image_tag >>
             docker login -u "${DOCKERHUB_USER}" -p "${DOCKERHUB_PASS}"
             docker push "${DOCKERHUB_REPO}":<< parameters.image_tag >>
diff --git a/Dockerfile.deploy b/Dockerfile.deploy
index b5708cc01c..7414cdf52b 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.deploy
+++ b/Dockerfile.deploy
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ FROM python:3.6-slim-stretch
 
 ENV PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR 3
 
+ARG DJANGO_VERSION=""
+ENV DJANGO_VERSION=$DJANGO_VERSION
+
 # need to compile swig
 ENV SWIG_FEATURES="-D__x86_64__"