diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 7d8d60bf03a3adcf5bdf11ce533ffdd2d8c79f9d..c1acd09d4e0dd9baa2177d3706a829b7cb17304e 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ stages:
 # Caching of dependencies to speed up builds
 variables:
   SECURE_LOG_LEVEL: debug
-  SOURCE_IMAGE: debian:bookworm
+  SOURCE_IMAGE: debian:12.10
 
 include:
   - template: Security/SAST.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -77,12 +77,17 @@ build_spack:
 build_cobalt:
   stage: test
   image:  docker
+  needs:
+    - build_spack
+  dependencies:
+    - build_spack
   tags:
     - dind
   rules:
     - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"
       changes:
         - docker/*
+        - environment.yaml
         - modules.yaml
     - if: ($CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH) || ($CI_COMMIT_TAG && $CI_COMMIT_REF_PROTECTED == "true")
   script:
@@ -101,16 +106,6 @@ build_cobalt:
         docker push $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/cobalt:latest
       fi
 
-#  script:
-#    - source ${SPACK_DIR}/share/spack/setup-env.sh
-#    - spack env create lofar
-#    - spack env activate lofar
-#    - cp environment.yaml $SPACK_ENV/spack.yaml
-#    - spack install
-#    - cp modules.yaml ~/.spack/modules.yaml
-#    - spack module tcl refresh -y
-#    - source /etc/profile.d/modules.sh
-
 release_job:
   stage: publish
   image: registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/release-cli:latest
diff --git a/.prepare.gitlab-ci.yml b/.prepare.gitlab-ci.yml
index 9175037eff879aa5bcf597bc994ad50961437f60..62fc9d66c858453ac0131c42ce874b3844e5b91f 100644
--- a/.prepare.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.prepare.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -8,13 +8,6 @@ workflow:
 build_ci_runner_image:
   stage: build
   image: docker
-#  rules:
-#    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"
-#      changes:
-#        - docker/*
-#        - environment.yaml
-#        - modules.yaml
-#    - if: ($CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH) || $CI_COMMIT_TAG
   tags:
     - dind
   script:
@@ -33,25 +26,3 @@ build_ci_runner_image:
         docker image tag $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/ci-build-runner:$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/ci-build-runner:latest
         docker push $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/ci-build-runner:latest
       fi
-
-## This job retags latest for the pipeline if there are no changes to files that influence images
-#retag_ci_runner_image:
-#  stage: build
-#  image: docker
-#  rules:
-#    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"
-#    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"
-#      changes:
-#        - docker/*
-#        - environment.yaml
-#        - modules.yaml
-#      when: never
-#    - if: ($CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH) || $CI_COMMIT_TAG
-#      when: never
-#  tags:
-#    - dind
-#  script:
-#    - docker login -u $CI_REGISTRY_USER -p $CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD $CI_REGISTRY
-#    - docker pull $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/ci-build-runner:latest
-#    - docker tag $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/ci-build-runner:latest $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/ci-build-runner:$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG
-#    - docker push $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/ci-build-runner:$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG  # push the image
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/environment.yaml b/environment.yaml
index ea6d809b6c675f9da03fede854811b08d55a03cc..35994a66af4a290df5ed271c1314db8fec89b039 100644
--- a/environment.yaml
+++ b/environment.yaml
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 ---
 spack:
   specs:
-    - autogen
     - binutils@2.30
     - boost+date_time+regex+filesystem+system+python+numpy
     - casacore@3.5.0
@@ -26,7 +25,7 @@ spack:
  view: false
  concretizer:
    unify: true
-  repos:
+ repos:
     - /data/cobalt/spack/repos/ska-sdp-spack
   compilers:
   - compiler:
diff --git a/old-environment.yaml b/old-environment.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d1d6434b8b29ae775ad8c2e48c5391..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000