diff --git a/cmake/CMakeLists.txt b/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
index 506f5ab411..f19c4eafd0 100644
--- a/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ OPTION(HDF5_SUPPORT "Enable HDF5 support (requires HDF5, zlib)" ON)
 OPTION(USE_VLD "Use Visual Leak Detector for debugging memory leaks, MSVC-only." OFF)
 OPTION(USE_MMAP "Adds a command line options to parse IFC files from memory mapped files using Boost.Iostreams" OFF)
 OPTION(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS "Build IfcParse and IfcGeom as shared libs (SO/DLL)." OFF)
+OPTION(MSVC_PARALLEL_BUILD "Multi-threaded compilation in Microsoft Visual Studio (/MP)" ON)
 if (${HAS_MAX})
 OPTION(BUILD_IFCMAX "Build IfcMax, a 3ds Max plug-in, Windows-only." OFF)
 endif()
@@ -66,6 +67,10 @@ IF(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE)
 	SET(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE "Release")
 ENDIF()
 
+if(MSVC AND MSVC_PARALLEL_BUILD)
+	add_definitions("/MP")
+endif()
+
 # QtViewer requires Qt5
 OPTION(BUILD_QTVIEWER "Build IfcOpenShell Qt GUI Viewer" OFF)
 include(GNUInstallDirs)