diff --git a/easybuild/tools/filetools.py b/easybuild/tools/filetools.py
index 19fbc280a4..d16d4f4778 100644
--- a/easybuild/tools/filetools.py
+++ b/easybuild/tools/filetools.py
@@ -1921,6 +1921,12 @@ def mkdir(path, parents=False, set_gid=None, sticky=None):
                 os.makedirs(path)
             else:
                 os.mkdir(path)
+        except FileExistsError as err:
+            if os.path.exists(path):
+                # This may happen if a parallel build creates the directory after we checked for its existence
+                _log.debug("Directory creation aborted as it seems it was already created: %s", err)
+            else:
+                raise EasyBuildError("Failed to create directory %s: %s", path, err)
         except OSError as err:
             raise EasyBuildError("Failed to create directory %s: %s", path, err)