diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 646b35f80..0e290f93e 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -6,9 +6,6 @@ python:
   - "3.6"
 
 env:
-  global:
-    - HDF5_ROOT=$HOME/hdf5-1.10.2
-  matrix:
     - PYMALCOLM_USE_COTHREAD=YES
     - PYMALCOLM_USE_COTHREAD=NO
 
@@ -17,13 +14,9 @@ addons:
     packages:
       - libhdf5-serial-dev
 
-before_install:
-  - bash ci/install-hdf5.sh
-
 cache:
   directories:
     - $HOME/.cache/pip
-    - $HOME/hdf5-1.10.2
     - ${VIRTUAL_ENV}/lib/python${TRAVIS_PYTHON_VERSION}/site-packages
     - ${VIRTUAL_ENV}/bin
 
@@ -32,7 +25,6 @@ install:
   - ls -al ${VIRTUAL_ENV}/lib/python${TRAVIS_PYTHON_VERSION}/site-packages
   - ls -al ${VIRTUAL_ENV}/bin
   - pip install "setuptools>=36"
-  - HDF5_DIR=$HDF5_ROOT pip install -v --no-binary=h5py h5py
   - pip install -r requirements/test.txt
   - pip install coveralls
   - ls -al ${VIRTUAL_ENV}/lib/python${TRAVIS_PYTHON_VERSION}/site-packages  
diff --git a/ci/install-hdf5.sh b/ci/install-hdf5.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index 20179170c..000000000
--- a/ci/install-hdf5.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-set -e
-# check to see if hdf5 folder is empty
-if [ ! -d "$HOME/hdf5-1.10.2/lib" ]; then
-  curl -L -O https://www.hdfgroup.org/ftp/HDF5/releases/hdf5-1.10/hdf5-1.10.2/src/hdf5-1.10.2.tar.bz2;
-  tar -jxf hdf5-1.10.2.tar.bz2;
-  cd hdf5-1.10.2 && ./configure --prefix=$HOME/hdf5-1.10.2 && make -j && make install;
-else
-  echo 'Using cached directory.';
-fi
diff --git a/requirements/test.txt b/requirements/test.txt
index c02a30de4..9faba3a3b 100644
--- a/requirements/test.txt
+++ b/requirements/test.txt
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ ruamel.yaml
 plop==0.3.0
 pytest>=3.2.0
 pytest-cov
-h5py==2.8.0
-vdsgen>=0-2-3
+h5py>=2.8.0
+vdsgen>=0.3
 annotypes>=0.8
 enum34