diff --git a/defaults/main.yml b/defaults/main.yml
index ada9f66..41d182e 100644
--- a/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/defaults/main.yml
@@ -13,8 +13,14 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
+# Use OpenStack's upper-constraints
 repo_build_use_upper_constraints: true
 
+# A list of overrides to apply to OpenStack's upper constraints
+# Use these with caution as you're implementing a change to the
+# package set which OpenStack has tested its releases with!
+repo_build_upper_constraints_overrides: []
+
 repo_build_service_user_name: "nginx"
 
 repo_build_global_links_path: "/var/www/repo/links"
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/upper-constraints-override-6853ffec6c07d7f5.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/upper-constraints-override-6853ffec6c07d7f5.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3cfb038
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/upper-constraints-override-6853ffec6c07d7f5.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+features:
+  - The ``repo_build`` role now provides the ability to override the
+    upper-constraints applied which are sourced from OpenStack. The
+    variable ``repo_build_upper_constraints_overrides`` can be
+    populated with a list of upper constraints.
diff --git a/tasks/repo_set_facts.yml b/tasks/repo_set_facts.yml
index 05aad6c..d83520b 100644
--- a/tasks/repo_set_facts.yml
+++ b/tasks/repo_set_facts.yml
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
     - repo-get-upper-constraints
     - repo-build-constraints-file
 
-- name: Set upper constraints
+- name: Decode the upper constraints content
   set_fact:
     _upper_constraints: "{{ slurp_upper_constraints.content | b64decode | splitlines }}"
   when: slurp_upper_constraints | success
@@ -47,10 +47,19 @@
     - repo-set-constraints
     - repo-build-constraints-file
 
-- name: Set upper constraints
+- name: Normalise the upper constraints
   set_fact:
     upper_constraints: "{{ local_requirement_normalized | pip_constraint_update(_upper_constraints) }}"
   when: slurp_upper_constraints | success
   tags:
     - repo-set-constraints
     - repo-build-constraints-file
+
+- name: Apply the upper constraint overrides
+  set_fact:
+    upper_constraints: "{{ upper_constraints | pip_constraint_update(repo_build_upper_constraints_overrides) }}"
+  when: repo_build_upper_constraints_overrides | length > 0
+  tags:
+    - repo-set-constraints
+    - repo-build-constraints-file
+
diff --git a/tests/test-repo-build.yml b/tests/test-repo-build.yml
index a0c0a19..55f9595 100644
--- a/tests/test-repo-build.yml
+++ b/tests/test-repo-build.yml
@@ -69,13 +69,28 @@
           {%- for package in slurp_upper_constraints.content | b64decode | splitlines %}
           {%-    set name = package | regex_replace('===.*$','') %}
           {%-    set version = package | regex_replace('^.*===','') %}
-          {%-    set _ = constraints.update({name:version}) %}
+          {%-    set _ = constraints.update({name: version}) %}
           {%- endfor %}
           {{- constraints -}}
+    - name: Set fact for upper constraints override
+      set_fact:
+        upper_constraints_override_list: >
+          {%- set override_packages = [] %}
+          {%- for override in repo_build_upper_constraints_overrides %}
+          {%-   set name = override | regex_replace('(>=|<=|>|<|==|~=|!=).*$','') %}
+          {%-    set _ = override_packages.append(name) %}
+          {%- endfor %}
+          {{- override_packages -}}
     - name: Ensure that requirements constraints is applying upper constraints
       assert:
-       that: requirements_constraints_content.find( "{{ item.key }}<={{item.value}}" ) != -1
+       that: requirements_constraints_content.find( "{{ item.key }}<={{ item.value }}" ) != -1
       with_dict: upper_constraints_dict
-      when: requirements_constraints_content.find(item.key) != -1
+      when:
+        - item.key not in upper_constraints_override_list
+        - requirements_constraints_content.find(item.key) != -1
+    - name: Ensure that upper constraints overrides are applied
+      assert:
+       that: requirements_constraints_content.find( "{{ item }}" ) != -1
+      with_items: "{{ repo_build_upper_constraints_overrides }}"
   vars_files:
     - test-vars.yml
diff --git a/tests/test-vars.yml b/tests/test-vars.yml
index 94d1ce7..0f177e7 100644
--- a/tests/test-vars.yml
+++ b/tests/test-vars.yml
@@ -16,6 +16,12 @@
 openstack_release: testing
 repo_build_release_tag: "{{ openstack_release }}"
 galera_client_drop_config_file: false
+
+# Test data input for upper constraints validation
+repo_build_upper_constraints_overrides:
+  - elasticsearch<2.1.0
+
+# Test data output from the py_pkgs lookup
 local_packages:
   results:
     -