diff --git a/binderhub/app.py b/binderhub/app.py
index 3605e32ea..4f6d44a15 100755
--- a/binderhub/app.py
+++ b/binderhub/app.py
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ def _valid_badge_base_url(self, proposal):
     )
 
     push_secret = Unicode(
-        'binder-push-secret',
+        'binder-build-docker-config',
         allow_none=True,
         help="""
         A kubernetes secret object that provides credentials for pushing built images.
@@ -375,6 +375,22 @@ def docker_build_host_validate(self, proposal):
             raise TraitError("Only unix domain sockets on same node are supported for build_docker_host")
         return proposal.value
 
+    build_docker_config = Dict(
+        None,
+        allow_none=True,
+        help="""
+        A dict which will be merged into the .docker/config.json of the build container (repo2docker)
+        Here, you could for example pass proxy settings as described here:
+        https://docs.docker.com/network/proxy/#configure-the-docker-client
+
+        Note: if you provide your own push_secret, this values wont
+        have an effect, as the push_secrets will overwrite
+        .docker/config.json
+        In this case, make sure that you include your config in your push_secret
+        """,
+        config=True
+    )
+
     hub_api_token = Unicode(
         help="""API token for talking to the JupyterHub API""",
         config=True,
@@ -693,6 +709,7 @@ def initialize(self, *args, **kwargs):
                 "build_memory_limit": self.build_memory_limit,
                 "build_memory_request": self.build_memory_request,
                 "build_docker_host": self.build_docker_host,
+                "build_docker_config": self.build_docker_config,
                 "base_url": self.base_url,
                 "badge_base_url": self.badge_base_url,
                 "static_path": os.path.join(HERE, "static"),
diff --git a/binderhub/build.py b/binderhub/build.py
index 7615fbfe6..235863ab2 100644
--- a/binderhub/build.py
+++ b/binderhub/build.py
@@ -248,9 +248,9 @@ def submit(self):
         )]
 
         if self.push_secret:
-            volume_mounts.append(client.V1VolumeMount(mount_path="/root/.docker", name='docker-push-secret'))
+            volume_mounts.append(client.V1VolumeMount(mount_path="/root/.docker", name='docker-config'))
             volumes.append(client.V1Volume(
-                name='docker-push-secret',
+                name='docker-config',
                 secret=client.V1SecretVolumeSource(secret_name=self.push_secret)
             ))
 
diff --git a/binderhub/builder.py b/binderhub/builder.py
index 8998aad95..7f6aa1246 100644
--- a/binderhub/builder.py
+++ b/binderhub/builder.py
@@ -351,7 +351,7 @@ async def get(self, provider_prefix, _unescaped_spec):
         # Prepare to build
         q = Queue()
 
-        if self.settings['use_registry']:
+        if self.settings['use_registry'] or self.settings['build_docker_config']:
             push_secret = self.settings['push_secret']
         else:
             push_secret = None
diff --git a/helm-chart/binderhub/templates/_helpers.tpl b/helm-chart/binderhub/templates/_helpers.tpl
index dce2b26da..39780deb0 100644
--- a/helm-chart/binderhub/templates/_helpers.tpl
+++ b/helm-chart/binderhub/templates/_helpers.tpl
@@ -16,9 +16,9 @@ We truncate at 63 chars because some Kubernetes name fields are limited to this
 {{- end -}}
 
 {{/*
-Render docker config.json for the registry-publishing secret.
+Render docker config.json for the registry-publishing secret and other docker configuration.
 */}}
-{{- define "registryDockerConfig" -}}
+{{- define "buildDockerConfig" -}}
 
 {{- /* default auth url */ -}}
 {{- $url := (default "https://index.docker.io/v1" .Values.registry.url) }}
@@ -36,11 +36,13 @@ Render docker config.json for the registry-publishing secret.
 {{- end }}
 {{- $username := .Values.registry.username -}}
 
-{
-  "auths": {
-    "{{ $url }}": {
-      "auth": "{{ printf "%s:%s" $username .Values.registry.password | b64enc }}"
-    }
-  }
-}
+{{- /* initialize a dict to represent a docker config with registry credentials */}}
+{{- $dockerConfig := dict "auths" (dict $url (dict "auth" (printf "%s:%s" $username .Values.registry.password | b64enc))) }}
+
+{{- /* augment our initialized docker config with buildDockerConfig */}}
+{{- if .Values.config.BinderHub.buildDockerConfig }}
+{{- $dockerConfig := merge $dockerConfig .Values.config.BinderHub.buildDockerConfig }}
+{{- end }}
+
+{{- $dockerConfig | toPrettyJson }}
 {{- end }}
diff --git a/helm-chart/binderhub/templates/secret.yaml b/helm-chart/binderhub/templates/secret.yaml
index efb2d8d3c..b8d4a8e4d 100644
--- a/helm-chart/binderhub/templates/secret.yaml
+++ b/helm-chart/binderhub/templates/secret.yaml
@@ -16,12 +16,12 @@ data:
   {{- end }}
   values.yaml: {{ $values | toYaml | b64enc | quote }}
 ---
-{{- if .Values.config.BinderHub.use_registry }}
+{{- if or .Values.config.BinderHub.use_registry .Values.config.BinderHub.buildDockerConfig }}
 kind: Secret
 apiVersion: v1
 metadata:
-  name: binder-push-secret
+  name: binder-build-docker-config
 type: Opaque
 data:
-  config.json: {{ include "registryDockerConfig" . | b64enc | quote }}
+  config.json: {{ include "buildDockerConfig" . | b64enc | quote }}
 {{- end }}