diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 2eddd1b..d9acbcd 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 #[cfg(test)] extern crate test;
 extern crate core;
 extern crate traverse;
+extern crate alloc;
 
 
 
@@ -85,5 +86,6 @@ pub mod trie_set {
 
 
 
+pub mod util;
 pub mod proto;
 
diff --git a/src/util/buffer.rs b/src/util/buffer.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..36bfd11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/util/buffer.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,284 @@
+//! A memory buffer with resizing.
+
+use core::nonzero::NonZero;
+use std::num::Int;
+use std::ops::Deref;
+use std::rt::heap;
+use std::mem;
+
+/// A safe wrapper around a heap allocated buffer of Ts, tracking capacity only.
+///
+/// Buffer makes no promises about the actual contents of this memory, that's up
+/// to the user of the structure and can be manipulated using the standard pointer
+/// utilities, accessible through the impl of `Deref<Target=*mut T>` for `Buffer<T>`.
+///
+/// As a result of this hands-off approach, `Buffer`s destructor does not attempt
+/// to drop any of the contained elements; the destructor simply frees the contained
+/// memory.
+///
+/// You can think of `Buffer<T>` as an approximation for `Box<[T]>` where the elements
+/// are not guaranteed to be valid/initialized. It is meant to be used as a building
+/// block for other collections, so they do not have to concern themselves with the
+/// minutiae of allocating, reallocating, and deallocating memory.
+pub struct Buffer<T> {
+    buffer: NonZero<*mut T>,
+    cap: usize
+}
+
+unsafe impl<T: Send> Send for Buffer<T> { }
+unsafe impl<T: Sync> Sync for Buffer<T> { }
+
+impl<T> Buffer<T> {
+    /// Create a new, empty Buffer.
+    ///
+    /// ```
+    /// # use collect::util::buffer::Buffer;
+    ///
+    /// let buffer: Buffer<usize> = Buffer::new();
+    /// assert_eq!(buffer.capacity(), 0);
+    /// ```
+    pub fn new() -> Buffer<T> {
+        Buffer {
+            buffer: empty(),
+            cap: 0
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Create a new buffer with space for cap Ts.
+    ///
+    /// Unlike `std::rt::heap::allocate`, cap == 0 is allowed.
+    ///
+    /// ```
+    /// # use collect::util::buffer::Buffer;
+    ///
+    /// let buffer: Buffer<usize> = Buffer::allocate(128);
+    /// assert_eq!(buffer.capacity(), 128);
+    /// ```
+    pub fn allocate(cap: usize) -> Buffer<T> {
+        if cap == 0 { return Buffer::new() }
+
+        Buffer {
+            buffer: unsafe { allocate(NonZero::new(cap)) },
+            cap: cap
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Reallocate this buffer to fit a new number of Ts.
+    ///
+    /// Unlike `std::rt::heap::reallocate`, cap == 0 is allowed.
+    ///
+    /// ```
+    /// # use collect::util::buffer::Buffer;
+    ///
+    /// let mut buffer: Buffer<usize> = Buffer::allocate(128);
+    /// assert_eq!(buffer.capacity(), 128);
+    ///
+    /// buffer.reallocate(1024);
+    /// assert_eq!(buffer.capacity(), 1024);
+    /// ```
+    pub fn reallocate(&mut self, cap: usize) {
+        if self.cap == 0 || cap == 0 {
+            // Safe to drop the old buffer because either it never
+            // allocated or we're getting rid of the allocation.
+            *self = Buffer::allocate(cap)
+        } else {
+            // We need to set the capacity to 0 because if the capacity
+            // overflows unwinding is triggered, which if we don't
+            // change the capacity would try to free empty().
+            let old_cap = mem::replace(&mut self.cap, 0);
+            let buffer = mem::replace(&mut self.buffer, empty());
+
+            self.buffer = unsafe {
+                reallocate(buffer, NonZero::new(old_cap),
+                           NonZero::new(cap))
+            };
+            self.cap = cap;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Get the current capacity of the Buffer.
+    ///
+    /// ```
+    /// # use collect::util::buffer::Buffer;
+    ///
+    /// let buffer: Buffer<usize> = Buffer::allocate(128);
+    /// assert_eq!(buffer.capacity(), 128);
+    /// ```
+    pub fn capacity(&self) -> usize {
+        self.cap
+    }
+}
+
+#[unsafe_destructor]
+impl<T> Drop for Buffer<T> {
+    /// Safety Note:
+    ///
+    /// The Buffer will *only* deallocate the contained memory. It will
+    /// *not* run any destructors on data in that memory.
+    fn drop(&mut self) {
+        if self.cap == 0 { return }
+        unsafe { deallocate(self.buffer, NonZero::new(self.cap)) }
+    }
+}
+
+impl<T> Deref for Buffer<T> {
+    type Target = *mut T;
+
+    fn deref(&self) -> &*mut T {
+        &*self.buffer
+    }
+}
+
+// Typed Allocation Utilities
+//
+// Unlike std::rt::heap these check for zero-sized types, capacity overflow,
+// oom etc. and calculate the appropriate size and alignment themselves.
+
+unsafe fn allocate<T>(cap: NonZero<usize>) -> NonZero<*mut T> {
+    if mem::size_of::<T>() == 0 { return empty() }
+
+    // Allocate
+    let ptr = heap::allocate(allocation_size::<T>(cap), mem::align_of::<T>());
+
+    // Check for allocation failure
+    if ptr.is_null() { ::alloc::oom() }
+
+    NonZero::new(ptr as *mut T)
+}
+
+unsafe fn reallocate<T>(ptr: NonZero<*mut T>,
+                        old_cap: NonZero<usize>,
+                        new_cap: NonZero<usize>) -> NonZero<*mut T> {
+    if mem::size_of::<T>() == 0 { return empty() }
+
+    let old_size = unchecked_allocation_size::<T>(old_cap);
+    let new_size = allocation_size::<T>(new_cap);
+
+    // Reallocate
+    let new = heap::reallocate(*ptr as *mut u8, old_size, new_size, mem::align_of::<T>());
+
+    // Check for allocation failure
+    if new.is_null() {
+        // Cleanup old buffer.
+        deallocate(ptr, old_cap);
+
+        ::alloc::oom()
+    }
+
+    NonZero::new(new as *mut T)
+}
+
+unsafe fn deallocate<T>(ptr: NonZero<*mut T>, cap: NonZero<usize>) {
+    if mem::size_of::<T>() == 0 { return }
+
+    let old_size = unchecked_allocation_size::<T>(cap);
+
+    heap::deallocate(*ptr as *mut u8, old_size, mem::align_of::<T>())
+}
+
+fn allocation_size<T>(cap: NonZero<usize>) -> usize {
+    mem::size_of::<T>().checked_mul(*cap).expect("Capacity overflow")
+}
+
+fn unchecked_allocation_size<T>(cap: NonZero<usize>) -> usize {
+    mem::size_of::<T>() * (*cap)
+}
+
+fn empty<T>() -> NonZero<*mut T> {
+    unsafe { NonZero::new(heap::EMPTY as *mut T) }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod test {
+    use std::ptr;
+
+    use util::buffer::Buffer;
+    use super::empty;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_empty() {
+        let buffer: Buffer<usize> = Buffer::new();
+        assert_eq!(buffer.cap, 0);
+        assert_eq!(buffer.buffer, empty());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_allocate() {
+        let buffer: Buffer<usize> = Buffer::allocate(8);
+
+        assert_eq!(buffer.cap, 8);
+
+        unsafe {
+            ptr::write(buffer.offset(0), 8);
+            ptr::write(buffer.offset(1), 4);
+            ptr::write(buffer.offset(3), 5);
+            ptr::write(buffer.offset(5), 3);
+            ptr::write(buffer.offset(7), 6);
+
+            assert_eq!(ptr::read(buffer.offset(0)), 8);
+            assert_eq!(ptr::read(buffer.offset(1)), 4);
+            assert_eq!(ptr::read(buffer.offset(3)), 5);
+            assert_eq!(ptr::read(buffer.offset(5)), 3);
+            assert_eq!(ptr::read(buffer.offset(7)), 6);
+        };
+
+        // Try a large buffer
+        let buffer: Buffer<usize> = Buffer::allocate(1024 * 1024);
+
+        unsafe {
+            ptr::write(buffer.offset(1024 * 1024 - 1), 12);
+            assert_eq!(ptr::read(buffer.offset(1024 * 1024 - 1)), 12);
+        };
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_reallocate() {
+        let mut buffer: Buffer<usize> = Buffer::allocate(8);
+        assert_eq!(buffer.cap, 8);
+
+        buffer.reallocate(16);
+        assert_eq!(buffer.cap, 16);
+
+        unsafe {
+            // Put some data in the buffer
+            ptr::write(buffer.offset(0), 8);
+            ptr::write(buffer.offset(1), 4);
+            ptr::write(buffer.offset(5), 3);
+            ptr::write(buffer.offset(7), 6);
+        };
+
+        // Allocate so in-place fails.
+        let _: Buffer<usize> = Buffer::allocate(128);
+
+        buffer.reallocate(32);
+
+        unsafe {
+            // Ensure the data is still there.
+            assert_eq!(ptr::read(buffer.offset(0)), 8);
+            assert_eq!(ptr::read(buffer.offset(1)), 4);
+            assert_eq!(ptr::read(buffer.offset(5)), 3);
+            assert_eq!(ptr::read(buffer.offset(7)), 6);
+        };
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    #[should_fail = "Capacity overflow."]
+    fn test_allocate_capacity_overflow() {
+        let _: Buffer<usize> = Buffer::allocate(10_000_000_000_000_000_000);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    #[should_fail = "Capacity overflow."]
+    fn test_fresh_reallocate_capacity_overflow() {
+        let mut buffer: Buffer<usize> = Buffer::new();
+        buffer.reallocate(10_000_000_000_000_000_000);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    #[should_fail = "Capacity overflow."]
+    fn test_reallocate_capacity_overflow() {
+        let mut buffer: Buffer<usize> = Buffer::allocate(128);
+        buffer.reallocate(10_000_000_000_000_000_000);
+    }
+}
+
diff --git a/src/util/mod.rs b/src/util/mod.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..030a9be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/util/mod.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+/// Utilities for implementing other data structures.
+
+pub mod buffer;