diff --git a/desktop-shell/meson.build b/desktop-shell/meson.build
index cc7215cb..c6f374ee 100644
--- a/desktop-shell/meson.build
+++ b/desktop-shell/meson.build
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ if get_option('shell-desktop')
 		'shell.c',
 		'exposay.c',
 		'input-panel.c',
-		'../shared/shell-utils.c',
 		weston_desktop_shell_server_protocol_h,
 		weston_desktop_shell_protocol_c,
 		input_method_unstable_v1_server_protocol_h,
@@ -17,6 +16,7 @@ if get_option('shell-desktop')
 		dep_libshared,
 		dep_lib_desktop,
 		dep_libweston_public,
+		dep_shell_utils,
 	]
 	plugin_shell_desktop = shared_library(
 		'desktop-shell',
diff --git a/desktop-shell/shell.c b/desktop-shell/shell.c
index 2b3ec429..ce8b18ec 100644
--- a/desktop-shell/shell.c
+++ b/desktop-shell/shell.c
@@ -41,8 +41,8 @@
 #include "weston-desktop-shell-server-protocol.h"
 #include <libweston/config-parser.h>
 #include "shared/helpers.h"
-#include "shared/shell-utils.h"
 #include "shared/timespec-util.h"
+#include "shell-utils.h"
 #include <libweston-desktop/libweston-desktop.h>
 
 #define DEFAULT_NUM_WORKSPACES 1
diff --git a/kiosk-shell/kiosk-shell.c b/kiosk-shell/kiosk-shell.c
index 66aa3910..950e5811 100644
--- a/kiosk-shell/kiosk-shell.c
+++ b/kiosk-shell/kiosk-shell.c
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
 #include "kiosk-shell-grab.h"
 #include "compositor/weston.h"
 #include "shared/helpers.h"
-#include "shared/shell-utils.h"
+#include "shell-utils.h"
 
 #include <libweston/xwayland-api.h>
 
diff --git a/kiosk-shell/meson.build b/kiosk-shell/meson.build
index c3a37da2..95d94721 100644
--- a/kiosk-shell/meson.build
+++ b/kiosk-shell/meson.build
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ if get_option('shell-kiosk')
 	srcs_shell_kiosk = [
 		'kiosk-shell.c',
 		'kiosk-shell-grab.c',
-		'../shared/shell-utils.c',
 		weston_desktop_shell_server_protocol_h,
 		weston_desktop_shell_protocol_c,
 		input_method_unstable_v1_server_protocol_h,
@@ -14,6 +13,7 @@ if get_option('shell-kiosk')
 		dep_libshared,
 		dep_lib_desktop,
 		dep_libweston_public,
+		dep_shell_utils,
 	]
 	plugin_shell_kiosk = shared_library(
 		'kiosk-shell',
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 182d3f7d..67917dea 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -171,6 +171,7 @@ subdir('libweston')
 subdir('libweston-desktop')
 subdir('xwayland')
 subdir('compositor')
+subdir('shell-utils')
 subdir('desktop-shell')
 subdir('fullscreen-shell')
 subdir('ivi-shell')
diff --git a/shell-utils/meson.build b/shell-utils/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..02ae9001
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shell-utils/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+dep_shell_utils = declare_dependency(
+        sources: 'shell-utils.c',
+        include_directories: include_directories('.'),
+        dependencies: dep_lib_desktop
+)
diff --git a/shared/shell-utils.c b/shell-utils/shell-utils.c
similarity index 99%
rename from shared/shell-utils.c
rename to shell-utils/shell-utils.c
index 7a2f1df5..51089328 100644
--- a/shared/shell-utils.c
+++ b/shell-utils/shell-utils.c
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
  */
 
 #include "config.h"
-#include "shared/shell-utils.h"
+#include "shell-utils.h"
 #include <libweston-desktop/libweston-desktop.h>
 
 struct weston_output *
diff --git a/shared/shell-utils.h b/shell-utils/shell-utils.h
similarity index 100%
rename from shared/shell-utils.h
rename to shell-utils/shell-utils.h
diff --git a/tests/meson.build b/tests/meson.build
index 5b1f0418..da78b407 100644
--- a/tests/meson.build
+++ b/tests/meson.build
@@ -217,9 +217,8 @@ tests = [
 	{	'name': 'safe-signal-output-removal',
 		'sources': [
 		  'safe-signal-output-removal-test.c',
-		  '../shared/shell-utils.c',
 		],
-		'dep_objs': [ dep_lib_desktop ]
+		'dep_objs': [ dep_lib_desktop, dep_shell_utils ]
 	},
 ]
 
diff --git a/tests/safe-signal-output-removal-test.c b/tests/safe-signal-output-removal-test.c
index 6eb28085..596ca498 100644
--- a/tests/safe-signal-output-removal-test.c
+++ b/tests/safe-signal-output-removal-test.c
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 
 #include "../shared/signal.h"
-#include "../shared/shell-utils.h"
+#include "shell-utils.h"
 #include "weston-test-client-helper.h"
 #include "weston-test-fixture-compositor.h"