diff --git a/templates/common/build_icon.sh b/templates/common/build_icon.sh
index 433ea712d4d6c4008e9ba36effbcd26664a6937c..6c4e7641389cd362897ce9652c22238bbab67004 100644
--- a/templates/common/build_icon.sh
+++ b/templates/common/build_icon.sh
@@ -19,7 +19,9 @@ if [ ! -z "$SPACK_BUILD_ICON" ]; then
   echo "Installing ICON with spack!"
   echo "cmd=$SPACK_BUILD_ICON"
   # In case the autosubmit repository with the icon-nwp receipt doesn't exist, add it
-  if [ $(spack repo list | grep autosubmit-icon-repository -q) ]; then
+  if [[ $(spack repo list | grep "${WORKDIR}/proj/spack_repo") ]]; then
+    echo "icon spack repo was already added to repo list"
+  else
     spack repo add ${WORKDIR}/proj/spack_repo
   fi
   spack install $SPACK_BUILD_ICON