diff --git a/modules/dcache/src/main/java/diskCacheV111/services/space/Manager.java b/modules/dcache/src/main/java/diskCacheV111/services/space/Manager.java
index bcfc659b18b..7550a7fb9f3 100644
--- a/modules/dcache/src/main/java/diskCacheV111/services/space/Manager.java
+++ b/modules/dcache/src/main/java/diskCacheV111/services/space/Manager.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 import com.google.common.base.Joiner;
 import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
 import com.google.common.primitives.Longs;
+import org.dcache.util.CDCExecutorServiceDecorator;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Required;
@@ -55,6 +56,8 @@
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Objects;
 import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executor;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
 
 import diskCacheV111.poolManager.PoolPreferenceLevel;
 import diskCacheV111.poolManager.PoolSelectionUnit;
@@ -80,7 +83,6 @@
 import diskCacheV111.util.PnfsHandler;
 import diskCacheV111.util.PnfsId;
 import diskCacheV111.util.RetentionPolicy;
-import diskCacheV111.util.ThreadManager;
 import diskCacheV111.util.VOInfo;
 import diskCacheV111.vehicles.DoorTransferFinishedMessage;
 import diskCacheV111.vehicles.IpProtocolInfo;
@@ -151,6 +153,8 @@ public final class Manager
 
         private SpaceManagerAuthorizationPolicy authorizationPolicy;
 
+        private Executor executor;
+
         private JdbcConnectionPool connection_pool;
         private DBManager dbManager;
         private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(Manager.class);
@@ -237,6 +241,12 @@ public void setLinkGroupAuthorizationFileName(String linkGroupAuthorizationFileN
                 this.linkGroupAuthorizationFileName = linkGroupAuthorizationFileName;
         }
 
+        @Required
+        public void setExecutor(ExecutorService executor)
+        {
+            this.executor = new CDCExecutorServiceDecorator(executor);
+        }
+
         @Required
         public void setDbManager(DBManager manager)
         {
@@ -2458,7 +2468,7 @@ public void messageArrived(final CellMessage envelope,
                 if (!isNotificationMessage(message) && !isSpaceManagerMessage(message)) {
                     messageToForward(envelope, message);
                 } else if (spaceManagerEnabled) {
-                    ThreadManager.execute(new Runnable()
+                    executor.execute(new Runnable()
                     {
                         @Override
                         public void run()
@@ -2503,7 +2513,7 @@ public void messageToForward(final CellMessage envelope, final Message message)
 
             if (envelope.nextDestination()) {
                 if (spaceManagerEnabled && isInterceptedMessage(message)) {
-                    ThreadManager.execute(new Runnable()
+                    executor.execute(new Runnable()
                     {
                         @Override
                         public void run()
diff --git a/modules/dcache/src/main/resources/diskCacheV111/services/space/spacemanager.xml b/modules/dcache/src/main/resources/diskCacheV111/services/space/spacemanager.xml
index 1e1c1ac2da5..b511fdc3016 100644
--- a/modules/dcache/src/main/resources/diskCacheV111/services/space/spacemanager.xml
+++ b/modules/dcache/src/main/resources/diskCacheV111/services/space/spacemanager.xml
@@ -36,6 +36,19 @@
     <constructor-arg value="1"/>
   </bean>
 
+  <bean id="executor"
+      class="java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor"
+      destroy-method="shutdown">
+    <description>Thread pool for message processing</description>
+    <constructor-arg value="1"/>
+    <constructor-arg value="${spacemanager.limits.threads}"/>
+    <constructor-arg value="60"/>
+    <constructor-arg value="SECONDS"/>
+    <constructor-arg>
+        <bean class="java.util.concurrent.LinkedBlockingQueue"/>
+    </constructor-arg>
+  </bean>
+
   <bean id="pool-manager-stub" class="org.dcache.cells.CellStub">
     <description>Pool manager communication stub</description>
     <property name="destination" value="${srm.service.poolmanager}"/>
@@ -91,6 +104,7 @@
     <property name="pnfsHandler"      ref="pnfs"/>
     <property name="poolManagerStub"  ref="pool-manager-stub"/>
     <property name="poolMonitor" ref="pool-monitor"/>
+    <property name="executor" ref="executor"/>
     <property name="spaceManagerEnabled"
               value="${spacemanager.enable.space-reservation}" />
     <property name="updateLinkGroupsPeriod"
diff --git a/skel/share/defaults/spacemanager.properties b/skel/share/defaults/spacemanager.properties
index c4d015529f0..da987e8aa8b 100644
--- a/skel/share/defaults/spacemanager.properties
+++ b/skel/share/defaults/spacemanager.properties
@@ -80,7 +80,12 @@ spacemanager.service.poolmanager=${dcache.service.poolmanager}
 spacemanager.service.poolmanager.timeout=300
 (one-of?MILLISECONDS|SECONDS|MINUTES|HOURS|DAYS)spacemanager.service.poolmanager.timeout.unit=SECONDS
 
-
+# ---- Number of concurrent threads used by space manager
+#
+# Each thread will likely obtain a connection to the database, meaning the thread limit
+# and the database connection limit should be in the same ballpark.
+#
+spacemanager.limits.threads=30
 
 # ---- Whether space manager is enabled
 #
diff --git a/skel/share/services/spacemanager.batch b/skel/share/services/spacemanager.batch
index 018d9fc9e39..b128e811ddb 100644
--- a/skel/share/services/spacemanager.batch
+++ b/skel/share/services/spacemanager.batch
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 #
 
 onerror shutdown
-exec file:${dcache.paths.share}/cells/threadmanager.fragment
 
 onerror shutdown
 check -strong spacemanager.cell.name
@@ -15,6 +14,7 @@ check -strong spacemanager.db.password
 check -strong spacemanager.db.connections.partition-count
 check -strong spacemanager.db.connections.min-per-partition
 check -strong spacemanager.db.connections.max-per-partition
+check -strong spacemanager.limits.threads
 check -strong spacemanager.default-access-latency
 check -strong spacemanager.enable.reserve-space-for-non-srm-transfers
 check spacemanager.authz.link-group-file-name