diff --git a/.github/actions/install_ubuntu_deps/action.yml b/.github/actions/install_ubuntu_deps/action.yml
index f9e5271cf7..141e9991fe 100644
--- a/.github/actions/install_ubuntu_deps/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/install_ubuntu_deps/action.yml
@@ -2,24 +2,12 @@ name: install_ubuntu_deps
 runs:
   using: composite
   steps:
-  - name: install cmake
-    # OpenEXR requires CMake 3.12. We also download CMake 3.20, which
-    # we'll use later for the JS build only.
-    run: |
-      echo $(date +%F) > ./date
-      echo $(git ls-remote https://github.com/facebookresearch/habitat-lab.git HEAD | awk '{ print $1}') > ./hablab_sha
-      cat ./hablab_sha
-      wget https://cmake.org/files/v3.12/cmake-3.12.4-Linux-x86_64.sh
-      sudo mkdir /opt/cmake312
-      sudo sh ./cmake-3.12.4-Linux-x86_64.sh --prefix=/opt/cmake312 --skip-license
-      sudo ln -s /opt/cmake312/bin/cmake /usr/local/bin/cmake
-      sudo ln -s /opt/cmake312/bin/ctest /usr/local/bin/ctest
-    shell: bash
   - name: Install dependencies
     run: |-
       echo "Install dependencies"
       sudo apt-get update || true
       sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+        cmake>=3.31.2 \
         build-essential \
         git \
         git-lfs \
diff --git a/.github/workflows/install_and_test.yml b/.github/workflows/install_and_test.yml
index 44479901a4..e4256511b6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/install_and_test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/install_and_test.yml
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Build, install habitat-sim
       run: |-
         #give cmake ownership to the runner for installation
-        sudo chown runner -R /opt/cmake312/
+        #sudo chown runner -R /opt/cmake312/
         #activate conda env
         export PATH=$HOME/miniconda/bin:/usr/local/cuda/bin:$PATH
         conda activate habitat
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Run sim tests
       run: |-
         #give cmake ownership to the runner for installation
-        sudo chown runner -R /opt/cmake312/
+        #sudo chown runner -R /opt/cmake312/
         #activate conda env
         export PATH=$HOME/miniconda/bin:/usr/local/cuda/bin:$PATH
         conda activate habitat
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: install habitat-sim with audio and run audio_agent script
       run: |-
         #give cmake ownership to the runner for installation
-        sudo chown runner -R /opt/cmake312/
+        #sudo chown runner -R /opt/cmake312/
         export PATH=$HOME/miniconda/bin:/usr/local/cuda/bin:$PATH
         conda activate habitat
         cd habitat-sim
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Build, install habitat-sim
       run: |-
         #give cmake ownership to the runner for installation
-        sudo chown runner -R /opt/cmake312/
+        #sudo chown runner -R /opt/cmake312/
         #activate conda env
         export PATH=$HOME/miniconda/bin:/usr/local/cuda/bin:$PATH
         conda activate habitat
@@ -418,8 +418,9 @@ jobs:
           export PATH=$HOME/miniconda/bin:$PATH
           conda init
           conda activate habitat
-          conda install -y anaconda-client ccache cmake git ninja conda-build pip
+          conda install -y anaconda-client ccache cmake=3.31.2 git ninja conda-build pip
           echo $(which -a python)
+          echo $(cmake --version)
           pip install gitpython
           cd habitat-sim
           git submodule update --init --recursive --jobs 8
diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index f51ac77b6c..10479ae55b 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -25,16 +25,6 @@ case $key in
 esac
 done
 
-
-# devfair/learnfair custom stuff: EGL path, and module loads
-my_hostname=$(hostname)
-if [[ $my_hostname =~ "fair" ]]; then
-  module purge
-  module load cuda/10.0
-  module load cudnn/v7.4-cuda.10.0
-  module load cmake/3.15.3/gcc.7.3.0
-fi
-
 python setup.py build_ext --inplace "${builder_args[@]}"
 
 here=$(pwd)
diff --git a/conda-build/Dockerfile b/conda-build/Dockerfile
index 37b48e96a0..ecdbd95a63 100644
--- a/conda-build/Dockerfile
+++ b/conda-build/Dockerfile
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ RUN sed -i s/^mirrorlist=http/#mirrorlist=http/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo
 RUN yum -y --nogpgcheck update --nobest
 
 RUN yum install -y yum-utils
-RUN yum install -y wget curl perl cmake util-linux xz bzip2 git patch which unzip python3
+RUN yum install -y wget curl perl cmake-3.31.2 util-linux xz bzip2 git patch which unzip python3
 RUN yum install -y autoconf automake make
 RUN yum install -y mesa-libEGL-devel mesa-libGL-devel