diff --git a/integrations/docker/images/base/chip-build/Dockerfile b/integrations/docker/images/base/chip-build/Dockerfile
index 52009834302249..ebe222b8a7e468 100644
--- a/integrations/docker/images/base/chip-build/Dockerfile
+++ b/integrations/docker/images/base/chip-build/Dockerfile
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ RUN set -x \
     libdmalloc-dev \
     libgif-dev \
     libgirepository-1.0-1 \
+    libgirepository1.0-dev \
     libglib2.0-dev \
     libical-dev \
     libjpeg-dev \
diff --git a/integrations/docker/images/base/chip-build/version b/integrations/docker/images/base/chip-build/version
index 8dba8b6189e6a3..94561c77a986e4 100644
--- a/integrations/docker/images/base/chip-build/version
+++ b/integrations/docker/images/base/chip-build/version
@@ -1 +1 @@
-57 : [Telink] Update Docker image (Zephyr update)
+58 : Add libgirepository1.0-dev to the base image, to make build_python.sh work (assume we want this everywhere)
diff --git a/scripts/build_python.sh b/scripts/build_python.sh
index ce0e40f5dd1475..a946bb1b8f518b 100755
--- a/scripts/build_python.sh
+++ b/scripts/build_python.sh
@@ -222,10 +222,10 @@ if [ -n "$install_virtual_env" ]; then
     if [ "$clean_virtual_env" = "yes" ]; then
         # Create a virtual environment that has access to the built python tools
         echo_blue "Creating a clear VirtualEnv in '$ENVIRONMENT_ROOT' ..."
-        virtualenv --clear "$ENVIRONMENT_ROOT"
+        python -m venv --clear "$ENVIRONMENT_ROOT"
     elif [ ! -f "$ENVIRONMENT_ROOT"/bin/activate ]; then
         echo_blue "Creating a new VirtualEnv in '$ENVIRONMENT_ROOT' ..."
-        virtualenv "$ENVIRONMENT_ROOT"
+        python -m venv "$ENVIRONMENT_ROOT"
     fi
 
     source "$ENVIRONMENT_ROOT"/bin/activate