diff --git a/test-network-k8s/docs/KUBERNETES.md b/test-network-k8s/docs/KUBERNETES.md
index 5aa5ee29..eb36f65c 100644
--- a/test-network-k8s/docs/KUBERNETES.md
+++ b/test-network-k8s/docs/KUBERNETES.md
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ To run natively on k3s, skip the creation of a KIND cluster and:
 3. Initialize the Nginx ingress and cert-manager: 
 
 ```shell
-export TEST_NETWORK_CLUSTER_RUNTIME=k3s
+export TEST_NETWORK_CLUSTER_RUNTIME="k3s"
 
 ./network cluster-init
 ```
@@ -95,7 +95,8 @@ export TEST_NETWORK_CLUSTER_RUNTIME=k3s
 
 - For use with containerd: 
 ```shell
-export CONTAINER_CLI=nerdctl
+export CONTAINER_CLI="nerdctl"
+export TEST_NETWORK_CONTAINER_NAMESPACE="--namespace k8s.io"
 ```
 
 
diff --git a/test-network-k8s/network b/test-network-k8s/network
index f4e5b472..a53bbe33 100755
--- a/test-network-k8s/network
+++ b/test-network-k8s/network
@@ -17,8 +17,9 @@ set -o errexit
 # todo: allow relative paths for input arguments.
 cd "$(dirname "$0")"
 
-export CLUSTER_RUNTIME=${TEST_NETWORK_CLUSTER_RUNTIME:-kind}  # or k3s
-export CONTAINER_CLI=${CONTAINER_CLI:-docker}                 # or nerdctl for containerd
+export CLUSTER_RUNTIME=${TEST_NETWORK_CLUSTER_RUNTIME:-kind}        # or k3s
+export CONTAINER_CLI=${CONTAINER_CLI:-docker}                       # or nerdctl for containerd
+export CONTAINER_NAMESPACE=${TEST_NETWORK_CONTAINER_NAMESPACE:-""}  # or "--namespace k8s.io" for containerd / nerdctl
 
 export FABRIC_VERSION=${TEST_NETWORK_FABRIC_VERSION:-2.4.3}
 export FABRIC_CA_VERSION=${TEST_NETWORK_FABRIC_CA_VERSION:-1.5.2}
diff --git a/test-network-k8s/scripts/chaincode.sh b/test-network-k8s/scripts/chaincode.sh
index f203d5f9..ca962413 100755
--- a/test-network-k8s/scripts/chaincode.sh
+++ b/test-network-k8s/scripts/chaincode.sh
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ function build_chaincode_image() {
 
   push_fn "Building chaincode image ${cc_image}"
 
-  docker build -t ${cc_image} ${cc_folder}
+  $CONTAINER_CLI build ${CONTAINER_NAMESPACE} -t ${cc_image} ${cc_folder}
 
   pop_fn
 }