diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 79e36532ae..b127489e75 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ ext.hibernateTargetVersion = '4.3.0-SNAPSHOT'
 ext.javaLanguageLevel = "1.6"
 
 task wrapper(type: Wrapper) {
-    gradleVersion = '1.5'
+    gradleVersion = '1.6'
 }
 
 
diff --git a/buildSrc/build.gradle b/buildSrc/build.gradle
index d4a8169547..58efbd34d3 100644
--- a/buildSrc/build.gradle
+++ b/buildSrc/build.gradle
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ dependencies {
     // common
     compile gradleApi()
     compile localGroovy()
-    groovy localGroovy()
     compile 'org.apache.ant:ant:1.8.2'
     // injection plugin
     compile 'org.javassist:javassist:3.15.0-GA'
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/hibernate/build/gradle/testing/database/AbstractDatabaseProfileImpl.java b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/hibernate/build/gradle/testing/database/AbstractDatabaseProfileImpl.java
index 0e0edb6fe1..fddaf9d7f7 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/hibernate/build/gradle/testing/database/AbstractDatabaseProfileImpl.java
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/hibernate/build/gradle/testing/database/AbstractDatabaseProfileImpl.java
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractDatabaseProfileImpl implements DatabaseProfile {
     protected Configuration getOrCreateConfiguration(String name) {
         Configuration configuration = project.getConfigurations().findByName( name );
         if ( configuration == null ) {
-            configuration = project.getConfigurations().add( name );
+            configuration = project.getConfigurations().create( name );
         }
         return configuration;
     }
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/hibernate/build/gradle/testing/matrix/MatrixTestingPlugin.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/hibernate/build/gradle/testing/matrix/MatrixTestingPlugin.groovy
index 92b7a8c86a..31686a0dc2 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/hibernate/build/gradle/testing/matrix/MatrixTestingPlugin.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/hibernate/build/gradle/testing/matrix/MatrixTestingPlugin.groovy
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ public class MatrixTestingPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
      * Prepare compile configuration for matrix source set.
      */
     private Configuration prepareCompileConfiguration() {
-        return project.configurations.add( MATRIX_COMPILE_CONFIG_NAME )
+        return project.configurations.create( MATRIX_COMPILE_CONFIG_NAME )
                 .setDescription( "Dependencies used to compile the matrix tests" )
                 .extendsFrom( project.configurations.getByName( COMPILE_CONFIGURATION_NAME ) )
                 .extendsFrom( project.configurations.getByName( TEST_COMPILE_CONFIGURATION_NAME ) );
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ public class MatrixTestingPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
      * Prepare runtime configuration for matrix source set.
      */
     private Configuration prepareRuntimeConfiguration() {
-		return project.configurations.add( MATRIX_RUNTIME_CONFIG_NAME )
+		return project.configurations.create( MATRIX_RUNTIME_CONFIG_NAME )
 				.setDescription( "Dependencies (baseline) used to run the matrix tests" )
 				.extendsFrom( matrixCompileConfig )
 				.extendsFrom( project.configurations.getByName( RUNTIME_CONFIGURATION_NAME ) )
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ public class MatrixTestingPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
     }
 
 	private Task prepareGroupingTask() {
-		Task matrixTask = project.tasks.add( MATRIX_TASK_NAME );
+		Task matrixTask = project.tasks.create( MATRIX_TASK_NAME );
         matrixTask.group = "Verification"
         matrixTask.description = "Runs the unit tests on Database Matrix"
 		return matrixTask;
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ public class MatrixTestingPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
     private Task prepareNodeTask(MatrixNode node) {
         String taskName = MATRIX_TASK_NAME + '_' + node.name
         log.debug( "Adding Matrix Testing task $taskName" );
-        final Test nodeTask = project.tasks.add( taskName, Test );
+        final Test nodeTask = project.tasks.create( taskName, Test );
         nodeTask.description = "Runs the matrix against ${node.name}"
         nodeTask.classpath = node.databaseProfile.testingRuntimeConfiguration + testSourceSet.runtimeClasspath
         nodeTask.testClassesDir = testSourceSet.output.classesDir
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar
index faa569a9a0..a7634b071c 100644
Binary files a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar and b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar differ
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
index 3c7e5519fd..4e3c898281 100644
--- a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
+++ b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-#Thu Apr 04 13:01:06 CDT 2013
+#Thu May 09 20:32:29 CDT 2013
 distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 distributionPath=wrapper/dists
 zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 zipStorePath=wrapper/dists
-distributionUrl=http\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-1.5-bin.zip
+distributionUrl=http\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-1.6-bin.zip