diff --git a/impeller/renderer/backend/vulkan/BUILD.gn b/impeller/renderer/backend/vulkan/BUILD.gn
index ae2c71be87ca8..cd20c993d3e69 100644
--- a/impeller/renderer/backend/vulkan/BUILD.gn
+++ b/impeller/renderer/backend/vulkan/BUILD.gn
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ impeller_component("vulkan") {
     "//third_party/vulkan_memory_allocator",
   ]
 
-  if (enable_vulkan_validation_layers) {
+  if (impeller_enable_vulkan_validation_layers) {
     defines = [ "IMPELLER_ENABLE_VULKAN_VALIDATION_LAYERS" ]
   }
 }
diff --git a/impeller/tools/impeller.gni b/impeller/tools/impeller.gni
index f30b68556524e..f2d33b0c28e4a 100644
--- a/impeller/tools/impeller.gni
+++ b/impeller/tools/impeller.gni
@@ -47,6 +47,11 @@ declare_args() {
 }
 
 declare_args() {
+  # Wether to build and include the validation layers.
+  impeller_enable_vulkan_validation_layers =
+      impeller_enable_vulkan && flutter_runtime_mode == "debug" &&
+      target_cpu == "arm64"
+
   # Whether Impeller supports rendering on the platform.
   impeller_supports_rendering =
       impeller_enable_metal || impeller_enable_opengles ||
diff --git a/shell/platform/android/BUILD.gn b/shell/platform/android/BUILD.gn
index 49d833339ef73..06e4c9de02985 100644
--- a/shell/platform/android/BUILD.gn
+++ b/shell/platform/android/BUILD.gn
@@ -490,7 +490,7 @@ action("android_jar") {
     ":pom_libflutter",
   ]
 
-  if (enable_vulkan_validation_layers) {
+  if (impeller_enable_vulkan_validation_layers) {
     assert(impeller_enable_vulkan)
 
     # We use a different toolchain here so that vulkan validation layers are
diff --git a/tools/gn b/tools/gn
index c80590bd67d60..5b481d6f33129 100755
--- a/tools/gn
+++ b/tools/gn
@@ -646,10 +646,9 @@ def to_gn_args(args):
   if args.unoptimized and args.target_os == 'android' and args.android_cpu == 'arm64':
     enable_vulkan_validation = True
 
-  if enable_vulkan_validation or (args.enable_impeller_vulkan and
-                                  runtime_mode == 'debug' and
-                                  gn_args['target_cpu'] == 'arm64'):
+  if enable_vulkan_validation:
     gn_args['enable_vulkan_validation_layers'] = True
+    gn_args['impeller_enable_vulkan_validation_layers'] = True
 
   # Enable pointer compression on 64-bit mobile targets. iOS is excluded due to
   # its inability to allocate address space without allocating memory.