diff --git a/main/src/com/google/refine/util/ParsingUtilities.java b/main/src/com/google/refine/util/ParsingUtilities.java
index 4de898685..a4f56e445 100644
--- a/main/src/com/google/refine/util/ParsingUtilities.java
+++ b/main/src/com/google/refine/util/ParsingUtilities.java
@@ -39,8 +39,10 @@ import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.io.Reader;
 import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
+import java.time.Instant;
 import java.time.LocalDateTime;
 import java.time.OffsetDateTime;
+import java.time.ZoneId;
 import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
 import java.util.Properties;
 
@@ -193,6 +195,11 @@ public class ParsingUtilities {
     }
     
     static public LocalDateTime stringToLocalDate(String s) {
-      return LocalDateTime.parse(s, DateTimeFormatter.ISO_LOCAL_DATE_TIME);
+        if (s.endsWith("Z")) {          // UTC time
+            Instant instant = Instant.parse(s);
+            return LocalDateTime.ofInstant(instant, ZoneId.systemDefault());
+        } else {
+            return LocalDateTime.parse(s, DateTimeFormatter.ISO_LOCAL_DATE_TIME);
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/util/ParsingUtilitiesTests.java b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/util/ParsingUtilitiesTests.java
index 87a649d86..91baccd76 100644
--- a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/util/ParsingUtilitiesTests.java
+++ b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/util/ParsingUtilitiesTests.java
@@ -35,7 +35,10 @@ package com.google.refine.tests.util;
 
 import java.time.OffsetDateTime;
 import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
 
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.text.StrSubstitutor;
 import org.json.JSONException;
 import org.json.JSONObject;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
@@ -90,9 +93,6 @@ public class ParsingUtilitiesTests extends RefineTest {
     }
     @Test
     public void zonedDateTimeTest() {
-//        String d = "2017-07-18T20:26:28.582+03:00[Asia/Istanbul]";
-//        DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ISO_ZONED_DATE_TIME ;
-//        OffsetDateTime.parse(d, formatter);
         String  d = "2017-12-01T14:53:36Z";
         DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ISO_OFFSET_DATE_TIME;
         OffsetDateTime.parse(d, formatter);
@@ -107,4 +107,24 @@ public class ParsingUtilitiesTests extends RefineTest {
         Assert.assertEquals(zdtString, historyEntryDate);
         
     }
+    
+    @Test
+    public void parseProjectModifiedBeforeJDK8() {
+        String modified = "2014-01-15T21:46:25Z";
+        Assert.assertNotEquals(ParsingUtilities.stringToLocalDate(modified).toString(), 
+                modified);
+    }
+    
+    @Test
+    public void strSubstitutorTest() {
+        Map<String, String> data = new HashMap<String, String>(6);
+        
+        data.put("value", "1234");
+        data.put("field_format", "String");
+        
+        StrSubstitutor sub = new StrSubstitutor(data);
+        String message = "The value ${value} in row ${row_number} and column ${column_number} is not type ${field_type} and format ${field_format}";
+        String result = sub.replace(message);
+        Assert.assertTrue(result.contains("1234"));
+    }
 }