diff --git a/fairmq/tools/CppSTL.h b/fairmq/tools/CppSTL.h
index ab10f64a..2892e187 100644
--- a/fairmq/tools/CppSTL.h
+++ b/fairmq/tools/CppSTL.h
@@ -27,6 +27,13 @@ std::unique_ptr<T> make_unique(Args&& ...args)
     return std::unique_ptr<T>(new T(std::forward<Args>(args)...));
 }
 
+// make_unique implementation (array variant), until C++14 is default
+template<typename T>
+std::unique_ptr<T> make_unique(std::size_t size)
+{
+    return std::unique_ptr<T>(new typename std::remove_extent<T>::type[size]());
+}
+
 // provide an enum hasher to compensate std::hash not supporting enums in C++11
 template<typename Enum>
 struct HashEnum