diff --git a/container/README.md b/container/README.md
index f20fb76..5501489 100644
--- a/container/README.md
+++ b/container/README.md
@@ -25,6 +25,11 @@
 
 ### Build with [Google Cloud Container Builder](https://cloud.google.com/container-builder/)
 
+**Note: currently, this process can only be executed by users who have
+read access to asci-toolchains's GCR. We publish it here to make the build
+process for our containers publicly available. You can still build the
+containers locally. See instructions in the next section.**
+
 You will need a valid project ID to build the toolchain-container.
 
 You can build a toolchain-container with
diff --git a/container/build.py b/container/build.py
index fa08caa..490cf92 100644
--- a/container/build.py
+++ b/container/build.py
@@ -270,13 +270,6 @@
         bazel_toolchains_base_dir)
     extra_substitution = ""
 
-  # If script is called within this repo, then we don't need @bazel_toolchains
-  # target names (causes infinite symlink chain). If script is called from outside,
-  # we do need it.
-  bazel_toolchains_ref = "@bazel_toolchains"
-  if os.path.samefile(bazel_toolchains_base_dir, "."):
-    bazel_toolchains_ref = ""
-
   async_arg = ""
   if async_:
     async_arg = "--async"
@@ -286,7 +279,6 @@
            "--config={CONFIG} "
            "--substitutions _PROJECT={PROJECT},_CONTAINER={CONTAINER},"
            "_BAZEL_VERSION={BAZEL_VERSION},"
-           "_BAZEL_TOOLCHAINS_REF={BAZEL_TOOLCHAINS_REF},"
            "_TAG={TAG},_PACKAGE={PACKAGE},_TARGET={TARGET}{EXTRA_SUBSTITUTION} "
            "--machine-type=n1-highcpu-32 "
            "{ASYNC}").format(
@@ -294,7 +286,6 @@
                PROJECT=project,
                CONTAINER=container,
                TAG=tag,
-               BAZEL_TOOLCHAINS_REF=bazel_toolchains_ref,
                PACKAGE=package,
                TARGET=target,
                EXTRA_SUBSTITUTION=extra_substitution,
diff --git a/container/cloudbuild.yaml b/container/cloudbuild.yaml
index de5520b..7715690 100644
--- a/container/cloudbuild.yaml
+++ b/container/cloudbuild.yaml
@@ -19,27 +19,17 @@
 timeout: 21600s
 
 steps:
-# Step: build a custom container with bazel
-  - name: 'gcr.io/cloud-builders/bazel'
-    args:
-    - '--output_base=/workspace'
-    - 'run'
-    - '${_BAZEL_TOOLCHAINS_REF}//container/ubuntu16_04/builders/bazel_docker_gcloud:bazel_${_BAZEL_VERSION}_docker_gcloud'
-    id: 'builder'
-    waitFor:
-    - "-" # wait for nothing - start immediately
-
 # Step: print the bazel version for confirmation
-  - name: 'bazel/container/ubuntu16_04/builders/bazel_docker_gcloud:bazel_${_BAZEL_VERSION}_docker_gcloud'
+  - name: 'gcr.io/asci-toolchain/nosla-ubuntu16_04-bazel-docker-gcloud:${_BAZEL_VERSION}'
     args:
     - 'bazel'
     - 'version'
     id: 'version'
     waitFor:
-    - "builder"
+    - "-" # wait for nothing - start immediately
 
 # Step: build the fully loaded container using rules_docker
-  - name: 'bazel/container/ubuntu16_04/builders/bazel_docker_gcloud:bazel_${_BAZEL_VERSION}_docker_gcloud'
+  - name: 'gcr.io/asci-toolchain/nosla-ubuntu16_04-bazel-docker-gcloud:${_BAZEL_VERSION}'
     # Set Bazel output_base to /workspace, which is a mounted directory on Google Cloud Builder.
     # This is to make sure Bazel generated files can be accessed by multiple containers.
     args: [
@@ -56,7 +46,7 @@
     - 'version'
 
 # Step: re-tag the image
-  - name: 'bazel/container/ubuntu16_04/builders/bazel_docker_gcloud:bazel_${_BAZEL_VERSION}_docker_gcloud'
+  - name: 'gcr.io/asci-toolchain/nosla-ubuntu16_04-bazel-docker-gcloud:${_BAZEL_VERSION}'
     args: ['docker', 'tag', 'bazel/${_PACKAGE}:${_TARGET}', 'gcr.io/${_PROJECT}/${_CONTAINER}:${_TAG}']
     id: 'container-tag'
     waitFor: # wait for all artifacts to be ready
@@ -65,7 +55,7 @@
 # Step: test the image
 # We use container_test rule, which is a Bazel wrapper of container_structure_test.
 # https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_docker/blob/master/contrib/test.bzl
-  - name: 'bazel/container/ubuntu16_04/builders/bazel_docker_gcloud:bazel_${_BAZEL_VERSION}_docker_gcloud'
+  - name: 'gcr.io/asci-toolchain/nosla-ubuntu16_04-bazel-docker-gcloud:${_BAZEL_VERSION}'
     args: [
       'bazel',
       '--output_base=/workspace',
@@ -81,7 +71,7 @@
     - 'container-build'
 
 # Step: store the tarball of debian packages in GCS
-  - name: 'bazel/container/ubuntu16_04/builders/bazel_docker_gcloud:bazel_${_BAZEL_VERSION}_docker_gcloud'
+  - name: 'gcr.io/asci-toolchain/nosla-ubuntu16_04-bazel-docker-gcloud:${_BAZEL_VERSION}'
     args: ['gsutil',
            'cp',
            '/workspace/bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/${_PACKAGE}/${_TARBALL}',
@@ -89,7 +79,7 @@
     ]
     id: 'upload-debs'
     waitFor:
-    - 'container-build'
+    - 'image-test'
 
 # Build the release-container
 images:
diff --git a/container/cloudbuild_no_bucket.yaml b/container/cloudbuild_no_bucket.yaml
index c08d9bb..696378b 100644
--- a/container/cloudbuild_no_bucket.yaml
+++ b/container/cloudbuild_no_bucket.yaml
@@ -19,27 +19,17 @@
 timeout: 21600s
 
 steps:
-# Step: build a custom container with bazel
-  - name: 'gcr.io/cloud-builders/bazel'
-    args:
-    - '--output_base=/workspace'
-    - 'run'
-    - '${_BAZEL_TOOLCHAINS_REF}//container/ubuntu16_04/builders/bazel_docker_gcloud:bazel_${_BAZEL_VERSION}_docker_gcloud'
-    id: 'builder'
-    waitFor:
-    - "-" # wait for nothing - start immediately
-
 # Step: print the bazel version for confirmation
-  - name: 'bazel/container/ubuntu16_04/builders/bazel_docker_gcloud:bazel_${_BAZEL_VERSION}_docker_gcloud'
+  - name: 'gcr.io/asci-toolchain/nosla-ubuntu16_04-bazel-docker-gcloud:${_BAZEL_VERSION}'
     args:
     - 'bazel'
     - 'version'
     id: 'version'
     waitFor:
-    - "builder"
+    - "-" # wait for nothing - start immediately
 
 # Step: build the fully loaded container using rules_docker
-  - name: 'bazel/container/ubuntu16_04/builders/bazel_docker_gcloud:bazel_${_BAZEL_VERSION}_docker_gcloud'
+  - name: 'gcr.io/asci-toolchain/nosla-ubuntu16_04-bazel-docker-gcloud:${_BAZEL_VERSION}'
     # Set Bazel output_base to /workspace, which is a mounted directory on Google Cloud Builder.
     # This is to make sure Bazel generated files can be accessed by multiple containers.
     args: [
@@ -56,7 +46,7 @@
     - 'version'
 
 # Step: re-tag the image
-  - name: 'bazel/container/ubuntu16_04/builders/bazel_docker_gcloud:bazel_${_BAZEL_VERSION}_docker_gcloud'
+  - name: 'gcr.io/asci-toolchain/nosla-ubuntu16_04-bazel-docker-gcloud:${_BAZEL_VERSION}'
     args: ['docker', 'tag', 'bazel/${_PACKAGE}:${_TARGET}', 'gcr.io/${_PROJECT}/${_CONTAINER}:${_TAG}']
     id: 'container-tag'
     waitFor: # wait for all artifacts to be ready
@@ -65,7 +55,7 @@
 # Step: test the image
 # We use container_test rule, which is a Bazel wrapper of container_structure_test.
 # https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_docker/blob/master/contrib/test.bzl
-  - name: 'bazel/container/ubuntu16_04/builders/bazel_docker_gcloud:bazel_${_BAZEL_VERSION}_docker_gcloud'
+  - name: 'gcr.io/asci-toolchain/nosla-ubuntu16_04-bazel-docker-gcloud:${_BAZEL_VERSION}'
     args: [
       'bazel',
       '--output_base=/workspace',