diff --git a/env.mk b/env.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..fb9309cdc54f48275de4046fe440632cbda617c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/env.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+.env:
+ifeq ($(shell python -c 'import sys; print(sys.version_info[0:2])'),(2, 7))
+	@echo "--> Installing environment to $(ENV_FOLDER)"
+	python -m virtualenv $(ENV_FOLDER)
+else
+	@echo "Balkan requires python version 2.7"
+	@echo "Current python version is: $(shell python -c 'import sys; print(sys.version_info[0:2])')"
+	exit 1
+endif
\ No newline at end of file