diff --git a/install_spack_env.sh b/install_spack_env.sh
index faf7ef8be89ef584b576093c19dbef0c5ab79a42..e81bcfc2b66e44523b4bb03f58152bfb5acb9725 100644
--- a/install_spack_env.sh
+++ b/install_spack_env.sh
@@ -194,6 +194,7 @@ fi
 
 # install the environment, use 2 jobs to reduce the amount of required RAM
 # delay exit code until we have updated the cache below
+spack rm hxtorch jaxsnn pynn-brainscales wf-brainscales2-demos py-snudda py-bsb py-hbp-validation-client r-sbtabvfgen py-tvb-framework
 spack install --no-check-signature -y -j$SPACK_JOBS --fresh --test root && spack_install_ret=$? || spack_install_ret=$?
 
 # no need to update the local cache nor the remote cache if we don't want to update