diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 56899c46499..6e6e73ab69c 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ allprojects {
   }
 }
 
-def refTestVersion = 'v1.4.0' // Arbitrary change to refresh cache number: 1
+def refTestVersion = 'v1.5.0-alpha.2'
 def blsRefTestVersion = 'v0.1.2'
 def slashingProtectionInterchangeRefTestVersion = 'v5.3.0'
 def refTestBaseUrl = 'https://github.com/ethereum/consensus-spec-tests/releases/download'
diff --git a/eth-reference-tests/build.gradle b/eth-reference-tests/build.gradle
index 65b4fb739d1..db5ec57ba62 100644
--- a/eth-reference-tests/build.gradle
+++ b/eth-reference-tests/build.gradle
@@ -46,4 +46,9 @@ task generateReferenceTestClasses(type: JavaExec) {
   systemProperty("teku.ref-test-module.path", project.file("../eth-reference-tests").absolutePath)
 }
 
-compileReferenceTestJava.dependsOn(generateReferenceTestClasses)
+compileReferenceTestJava {
+  dependsOn generateReferenceTestClasses
+  // Fork worker to compile tests and avoid OoM errors during compilation
+  options.fork = true
+  options.forkOptions.memoryMaximumSize = "2048m"
+}