diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-env.yml b/.github/workflows/build-env.yml
index cf44d754..8186788a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-env.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-env.yml
@@ -26,3 +26,23 @@ jobs:
           context: .
           file: spack/ci-spack-pyprecice-deps-2404.dockerfile
           tags: precice/ci-spack-pyprecice-deps-2404
+  build-spack-pyprecice-external-deps:
+    name: Builds the baseimage for spack using external dependencies
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout Repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - name: Set up Docker
+        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v1
+      - name: Login to registry
+        uses: docker/login-action@v1 
+        with:
+          username: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
+          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
+      - name: Build and push
+        uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
+        with:
+          push: true
+          context: .
+          file: spack/ci-spack-pyprecice-external-deps-2404.dockerfile
+          tags: precice/ci-spack-pyprecice-external-deps-2404
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-spack.yml b/.github/workflows/build-spack.yml
index 8ff0b6cb..eb279fc2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-spack.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-spack.yml
@@ -32,4 +32,28 @@ jobs:
           spack add pyprecice.test.py-pyprecice@develop && spack develop pyprecice.test.py-pyprecice@develop
           spack install && spack find
           spack load py-pyprecice
-          BINDINGS_VERSION=$(python3 -c "import precice; print(precice.__version__)") && echo "Installed version of bindings is ${BINDINGS_VERSION}"
\ No newline at end of file
+          BINDINGS_VERSION=$(python3 -c "import precice; print(precice.__version__)") && echo "Installed version of bindings is ${BINDINGS_VERSION}"
+  build_spack_external:
+    name: build_spack_external
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 15
+    container: precice/ci-spack-pyprecice-external-deps-2404
+    defaults:
+      run:
+        shell: "bash --login -eo pipefail {0}"
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout Repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - name: Move Package Script
+        run: |
+          ls
+          cp -r spack/repo/packages/py-pyprecice/ /py-pyprecice-repo/packages/
+      - name: Try to build py-pyprecice with spack and test it
+        run: |
+          . /spack/share/spack/setup-env.sh
+          spack env activate ci && spack arch
+          spack remove py-pyprecice
+          spack add pyprecice.test.py-pyprecice@develop && spack develop pyprecice.test.py-pyprecice@develop
+          spack install && spack find && spack external find 
+          spack load py-pyprecice
+          BINDINGS_VERSION=$(python3 -c "import precice; print(precice.__version__)") && echo "Installed version of bindings is ${BINDINGS_VERSION}"
diff --git a/spack/ci-spack-pyprecice-external-deps-2404.dockerfile b/spack/ci-spack-pyprecice-external-deps-2404.dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5decd8cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spack/ci-spack-pyprecice-external-deps-2404.dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Build stage with Spack pre-installed and ready to be used
+FROM spack/ubuntu-noble:latest
+
+ARG DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-c"]
+# this is necessary to avoid timeouts during installation due to interactive installs
+
+# Installing necessary dependencies for preCICE, boost 1.71 from apt-get
+RUN apt-get -qq update && apt-get -qq install \
+    curl \
+    unzip \
+    build-essential \
+    locales \
+    libboost-all-dev \
+    libeigen3-dev \
+    libxml2-dev \
+    git \
+    python3-dev \
+    python3-pip \
+    petsc-dev \
+    mpich \
+    wget \
+    bzip2 \
+    cmake && \
+    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+RUN git clone https://github.com/spack/spack.git
+
+RUN pip3 install cython  # needed for successfully building py-numpy
+
+ADD ./spack/repo /py-pyprecice-repo
+
+RUN source /spack/share/spack/setup-env.sh && \
+    spack --color=always external find --not-buildable && \
+    spack --color=always env create --without-view ci && \
+    spack --color=always -e ci repo add /py-pyprecice-repo && \
+    spack --color=always -e ci add pyprecice.test.py-pyprecice@develop target=x86_64 && \
+    spack --color=always -e ci install --fail-fast --only=dependencies && \
+    spack --color=always clean -a