diff --git a/cmake/modules/GoogleBenchmark.cmake b/cmake/modules/GoogleBenchmark.cmake
index 62f646f6..4815abba 100644
--- a/cmake/modules/GoogleBenchmark.cmake
+++ b/cmake/modules/GoogleBenchmark.cmake
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ ExternalProject_Add(
   #            -Dgtest_force_shared_crt=ON
   CMAKE_ARGS -G ${CMAKE_GENERATOR}
   -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH=${GBENCHMARK_PREFIX}
-  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}
+  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=RELEASE
   -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=${CMAKE_C_COMPILER}
   -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS=${CMAKE_C_FLAGS}
   -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER}