diff --git a/cpp/arcticdb/column_store/chunked_buffer.hpp b/cpp/arcticdb/column_store/chunked_buffer.hpp
index b42aa8219d7..4d725fd1681 100644
--- a/cpp/arcticdb/column_store/chunked_buffer.hpp
+++ b/cpp/arcticdb/column_store/chunked_buffer.hpp
@@ -14,12 +14,22 @@
 #include <arcticdb/util/constructors.hpp>
 #include <arcticdb/column_store/block.hpp>
 
+#ifdef DEBUG_BUILD
 #include <boost/container/small_vector.hpp>
+#endif
 
 #include <cstdint>
 
 namespace arcticdb {
 
+#ifdef DEBUG_BUILD
+using MemBlockVectorType = std::vector<MemBlock *>;
+using MemBlockOffsetsVectorType = std::vector<size_t>;
+#else
+using MemBlockVectorType = boost::container::small_vector<MemBlock *, 1>;
+using MemBlockOffsetsVectorType = boost::container::small_vector<size_t, 1>;
+#endif
+
 /*
  * ChunkedBufferImpl is an untyped buffer that is composed of blocks of data that can be either regularly or
  * irregularly sized, with optimizations for the following representations:
@@ -400,14 +410,8 @@ class ChunkedBufferImpl {
 
     size_t bytes_ = 0;
     size_t regular_sized_until_ = 0;
-//#define DEBUG_BUILD
-#ifndef DEBUG_BUILD
-    boost::container::small_vector<BlockType *, 1> blocks_;
-    boost::container::small_vector<size_t, 1> block_offsets_;
-#else
-    std::vector<BlockType*> blocks_;
-    std::vector<size_t> block_offsets_;
-#endif
+    MemBlockVectorType blocks_;
+    MemBlockOffsetsVectorType block_offsets_;
 };
 
 constexpr size_t PageSize = 4096;
diff --git a/cpp/arcticdb/column_store/column.cpp b/cpp/arcticdb/column_store/column.cpp
index da64aa8b3ba..61e4563de83 100644
--- a/cpp/arcticdb/column_store/column.cpp
+++ b/cpp/arcticdb/column_store/column.cpp
@@ -562,7 +562,7 @@ void Column::compact_blocks() {
     data_.compact_blocks();
 }
 
-const std::vector<MemBlock *>& Column::blocks() const {
+const MemBlockVectorType& Column::blocks() const {
     return data_.buffer().blocks();
 }
 
diff --git a/cpp/arcticdb/column_store/column.hpp b/cpp/arcticdb/column_store/column.hpp
index 4515399ccb9..0c89edef89d 100644
--- a/cpp/arcticdb/column_store/column.hpp
+++ b/cpp/arcticdb/column_store/column.hpp
@@ -445,7 +445,7 @@ class Column {
 
     void compact_blocks();
 
-    const std::vector<MemBlock *>& blocks() const;
+    const MemBlockVectorType& blocks() const;
 
     template<typename T>
     std::optional<T> scalar_at(position_t row) const {