diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 6a4d50fe11cdeefde2ddc656915bb112425461c1..acaad11fe85844f5f425b35072fe9534f3469d98 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ stages:
 
 variables:
   BUILD_ENV_DOCKER_IMAGE: docker-registry.ebrains.eu/ebrains-spack-build-env/base:24.12
-  SPACK_PATH_GITLAB: /mnt/spack_v0.21.1
+  SPACK_PATH_GITLAB: /mnt/spack_v0.23.0
   SYSTEMNAME: ebrainslab
   GIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY: recursive
   GIT_CLEAN_FLAGS: -ffdxq
@@ -259,10 +259,11 @@ sync-esd-image:
       - spack_logs
     when: always
   timeout: 2 days
-  resource_group: registry-esd-master-image
+  resource_group: registry-esd-spack-23-image
   rules:
     # branches that update the gitlab-runner upstream (read-only) installation and the spack OCI caches
-    - if: ($CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH || $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "experimental_rel" || $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH =~ /^ebrains/) && $CI_PROJECT_PATH =~ /platform\/esd\/ebrains-spack-builds/ && $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE != "schedule"
+    #- if: ($CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH || $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "experimental_rel" || $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH =~ /^ebrains/) && $CI_PROJECT_PATH =~ /platform\/esd\/ebrains-spack-builds/ && $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE != "schedule"
+    - if: $CI_PROJECT_PATH =~ /platform\/esd\/ebrains-spack-builds/ && $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE != "schedule"
       when: manual
 
 # update gitlab-runner upstream (read-only) installation
@@ -307,7 +308,8 @@ sync-gitlab-spack-instance:
     when: always
   rules:
     # branches that update the gitlab-runner upstream (read-only) installation
-    - if: ($CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH || $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "experimental_rel" || $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH =~ /^ebrains/) && $CI_PROJECT_NAMESPACE =~ /platform\/esd/ && $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE != "schedule"
+    #    - if: ($CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH || $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "experimental_rel" || $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH =~ /^ebrains/) && $CI_PROJECT_NAMESPACE =~ /platform\/esd/ && $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE != "schedule"
+    - if: $CI_PROJECT_NAMESPACE =~ /platform\/esd/ && $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE != "schedule"
       when: manual
 
 # run (scheduled) standalone tests for environment