diff --git a/conf/common/build.yml b/conf/common/build.yml
index d235d17fd389a00729c1250383de3b7c25b9f80f..e87dffb809aa80a71dc92020d989dde02ad4c232 100644
--- a/conf/common/build.yml
+++ b/conf/common/build.yml
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ icon:
   # in most cases it can be the same value as the build_cmd, but for some cases where using dependencies with a
   # specific hash it doesn't work anymore. For those cases, the default value can be replaced by the build_cmd without
   # the dependencies with hash.
-  load_cmd: "%icon.build_cmd%"
+  load_cmd: build_cmd
   version: master # The latest release at the moment of creating this file was 2.6.5-nwp0
 
 python_environment:
diff --git a/templates/common/build_icon.sh b/templates/common/build_icon.sh
index 65589384e23d8a30994e6247d4de4c57d82402cc..bac7789f40b6b3644fc90b1eae92683f540a2796 100644
--- a/templates/common/build_icon.sh
+++ b/templates/common/build_icon.sh
@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@ fi
 SPACK_BUILD_ICON="%ICON.BUILD_CMD%"
 SPACK_LOAD_ICON="%ICON.LOAD_CMD%"
 
+if [ "${SPACK_LOAD_ICON}" == "build_cmd" ]; then
+  SPACK_LOAD_ICON=${SPACK_BUILD_ICON}
+fi
+
 if [ ! -z "$SPACK_BUILD_ICON" ]; then
   echo "Installing ICON with spack!"
   echo "cmd=$SPACK_BUILD_ICON"