diff --git a/platforms/common/spack_utils.sh b/platforms/common/spack_utils.sh
index 0c5e4eb98d352743207d747881db745d7da1c4e9..fd32c0db87cf33923f1ec3f7c209d5125f2e3367 100644
--- a/platforms/common/spack_utils.sh
+++ b/platforms/common/spack_utils.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 function _install_spack() {
   if [ ! -e ${SPACK_ROOT} ]; then
+    if ! command -v git &> /dev/null
+    then
+      echo "git could not be found ... will try to load it form the module system ..."
+      module load git || echo "could not load git from module system"
+    fi
+
     echo "Cloning to ${SPACK_ROOT}"
     git clone --depth 1 ${SPACK_URL} -b ${SPACK_BRANCH} ${SPACK_ROOT}
   fi