diff --git a/DDRec/include/DDRec/SurfaceManager.h b/DDRec/include/DDRec/SurfaceManager.h
index eb6d5b210..f12e7d508 100644
--- a/DDRec/include/DDRec/SurfaceManager.h
+++ b/DDRec/include/DDRec/SurfaceManager.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //==========================================================================
-//  AIDA Detector description implementation 
+//  AIDA Detector description implementation
 //--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Copyright (C) Organisation europeenne pour la Recherche nucleaire (CERN)
 // All rights reserved.
@@ -17,24 +17,25 @@
 #include "DD4hep/Detector.h"
 #include <string>
 #include <map>
+#include <set>
 
 namespace dd4hep {
   namespace rec {
 
-    /// typedef for surface maps, keyed by the cellID 
+    /// typedef for surface maps, keyed by the cellID
     typedef std::multimap< unsigned long, ISurface*> SurfaceMap ;
 
-    /** Surface manager class that holds maps of surfaces for all known 
-     *  sensitive detector types and  individual sub detectors. 
+    /** Surface manager class that holds maps of surfaces for all known
+     *  sensitive detector types and  individual sub detectors.
      *  Maps can be retrieved via detector name.
-     * 
+     *
      * @author F.Gaede, DESY
      * @date May, 11 2015
      * @version $Id$
      */
     class SurfaceManager {
 
-      typedef std::map< std::string,  SurfaceMap > SurfaceMapsMap ;
+      typedef std::map< std::string,  std::pair<bool, SurfaceMap>> SurfaceMapsMap;
 
     public:
       /// The constructor
@@ -48,30 +49,33 @@ namespace dd4hep {
 #endif
       /// No copy constructor
       SurfaceManager(const SurfaceManager& copy) = delete;
-      
+
       /// Default destructor
       ~SurfaceManager();
 
       /// No assignment operator
       SurfaceManager& operator=(const SurfaceManager& copy) = delete;
-      
+
       /** Get the maps of all surfaces associated to the given detector or
        *  type of detectors, e.g. map("tracker") returns a map with all surfaces
        *  assigned to tracking detectors. Returns 0 if no map exists.
        */
-      const SurfaceMap* map( const std::string name ) const ;
+      const SurfaceMap* map( const std::string name );
+
 
-      
       ///create a string with all available maps and their size (number of surfaces)
       std::string toString() const ;
-      
-    protected :
 
+    protected :
 
-      /// initialize all known surface maps
-      void initialize(const Detector& theDetector) ;
+      /// name has to be the name of a single detector! not e.g. tracker or world.
+      const SurfaceMap& getOrConstruct(const std::string name);
 
       SurfaceMapsMap _map ;
+      const Detector& m_detector;
+      std::set<std::string> m_detectorNames;
+      std::set<std::string> m_detectorTypes;
+      std::map<std::string, std::set<std::string>> m_missingDetectors;
     };
 
   } /* namespace rec */
diff --git a/DDRec/src/SurfaceManager.cpp b/DDRec/src/SurfaceManager.cpp
index 2576ebb41..563ad2ead 100644
--- a/DDRec/src/SurfaceManager.cpp
+++ b/DDRec/src/SurfaceManager.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //==========================================================================
-//  AIDA Detector description implementation 
+//  AIDA Detector description implementation
 //--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Copyright (C) Organisation europeenne pour la Recherche nucleaire (CERN)
 // All rights reserved.
@@ -19,85 +19,142 @@
 #include <sstream>
 
 namespace dd4hep {
-  
+
   using namespace detail ;
 
   namespace rec {
-    
 
-    SurfaceManager::SurfaceManager(const Detector& theDetector){
+
+    SurfaceManager::SurfaceManager(const Detector& theDetector) :
+      m_detector(theDetector)
+    {
 
       // have to make sure the volume manager is populated once in order to have
       // the volumeIDs attached to the DetElements
 
       VolumeManager::getVolumeManager(theDetector);
 
-      initialize(theDetector) ;
+      std::set<std::string> worldSet{};
+      // collect all detector names that belong to a type e.g.: tracker, calorimeter, passive
+      for (const std::string& typeName : theDetector.detectorTypes()) {
+        m_detectorTypes.insert(typeName);
+        std::set<std::string> nameSet{};
+        for (const DetElement& det : theDetector.detectors(typeName)) {
+          m_detectorNames.insert(det.name());
+          nameSet.insert(det.name());
+        }
+        worldSet.insert(nameSet.begin(), nameSet.end());
+        m_missingDetectors.emplace(typeName, std::move(nameSet));
+      }
+      m_missingDetectors.emplace("world", std::move(worldSet));
     }
-    
+
     SurfaceManager::~SurfaceManager(){
       // nothing to do
     }
-    
-    
-    const SurfaceMap* SurfaceManager::map( const std::string name ) const {
 
-      SurfaceMapsMap::const_iterator it = _map.find( name ) ;
 
-      if( it != _map.end() ){
+    const SurfaceMap* SurfaceManager::map( const std::string name ) {
 
-        return & it->second ;
+      // return map if it already exists and is complete
+      SurfaceMapsMap::const_iterator it = _map.find( name ) ;
+      if(it != _map.end() && it->second.first) {
+          return &it->second.second ;
       }
 
-      return 0 ;
-    }
-
-    void SurfaceManager::initialize(const Detector& description) {
-      
-      const std::vector<std::string>& types = description.detectorTypes() ;
+      // surface map does not exist or is not completed yet, build it
 
-      for(unsigned i=0,N=types.size();i<N;++i){
+      bool isDetector = m_detectorNames.find(name) != m_detectorNames.end();
+      bool isDetectorType = m_detectorTypes.find(name) != m_detectorTypes.end();
+      bool isWorld = name == "world";
 
-        const std::vector<DetElement>& dets = description.detectors( types[i] ) ;  
-
-        for(unsigned j=0,M=dets.size();j<M;++j){
+      if (isDetector) {
+        // name is a detector: easiest case
+        return &getOrConstruct(name);
+      } else if (!isDetectorType && !isWorld) {
+        // neither a type name nor world -> invalid
+        // TODO: maybe do an additional debug printout (not done in original implementation!)
+        return 0;
+      }
 
-          std::string name = dets[j].name() ;
+      // if we arrived here we were asked for a type map like tracker or world
+      // get missing detectors, construct them, look up map again and return it
+      auto& missingDets = m_missingDetectors[name];
+      for (const auto& detName : missingDets) {
+        getOrConstruct(detName);
+      }
 
-          SurfaceHelper surfH( dets[j] ) ;
-	  
-          const SurfaceList& detSL = surfH.surfaceList() ;
-  
-          // add an empty map for this detector in case there are no surfaces attached 
-          _map.emplace(name , SurfaceMap());
+      return &_map[name].second;
+    }
 
-          for( SurfaceList::const_iterator it = detSL.begin() ; it != detSL.end() ; ++it ){
-            ISurface* surf =  *it ;
-	    
-            // enter surface into map for this detector
-            _map[ name ].emplace(surf->id(), surf );
+    const SurfaceMap& SurfaceManager::getOrConstruct(const std::string name) {
+      // check if we already have this map
+      {
+        auto it = _map.find(name);
+        // second condition is always true because we only call this method with name in m_detectorNames
+        // i.e. no compounds like tracker or world!
+        if(it != _map.end() /* && it->second.first */){
+          return it->second.second ;
+        }
+      } // scope to get rid of it variable that is useless after this
+
+      // map does not exist yet, we need to construct it ourselves
+      // if our detector is also in detectorTypes we construct that
+      // part of the corresponding surface map also
+
+      std::vector<std::pair<std::string, bool>> types;
+      // we also want to construct a map for the detector itself
+      // so we just add it first and set it to be valid as we
+      // will construct it completely
+      types.push_back(std::make_pair(name, true));
+
+      // first, check if it is part of any compounds to also add our surfaces to them
+      // remove the name at the same time as we will construct the map for it now
+      for (auto& [typeName, nameSet] : m_missingDetectors) {
+        bool found = nameSet.erase(name);
+        if (found) {
+          // we store the typename and if it was the last missing detector of this type
+          types.push_back(std::make_pair(typeName, nameSet.empty()));
+        }
+      }
 
-            // enter surface into map for detector type
-            _map[ types[i] ].emplace(surf->id(), surf );
+      // make a vector of references to all the maps that we need to add surfaces to
+      std::vector<std::reference_wrapper<std::pair<bool, SurfaceMap>>> maps{};
+      for (const auto& [typeName, valid] : types) {
+        auto it = _map.find(typeName);
+        if (it == _map.end()) {
+          // need to create a new empty map in the global _map
+          const auto& res = _map.emplace(typeName, std::make_pair(valid, SurfaceMap()));
+          maps.push_back(res.first->second);
+        } else {
+          maps.push_back(it->second);
+        }
+      }
 
-            // enter surface into world map 
-            _map[ "world" ].emplace(surf->id(), surf );
+      // now get the surfaces and put them into the maps
+      const DetElement& det = m_detector.detector(name);
+      SurfaceHelper surfHelper(det);
+      const SurfaceList& surfList = surfHelper.surfaceList();
 
-          }
+      for (ISurface* surf : surfList) {
+        for (auto& map : maps) {
+          map.get().second.emplace(surf->id(), surf);
         }
       }
 
+      // return the map of the detector
+      return maps[0].get().second;
     }
 
     std::string SurfaceManager::toString() const {
-      
+
       std::stringstream sstr ;
-       
+
       sstr << "--------  SurfaceManager contains the following maps : --------- " << std::endl ;
- 
+
       for( SurfaceMapsMap::const_iterator mi = _map.begin() ; mi != _map.end() ; ++mi ) {
-	
-        sstr << "  key: " <<  mi->first << " \t number of surfaces : " << mi->second.size() << std::endl ; 
+
+        sstr << "  key: " <<  mi->first << " \t number of surfaces : " << mi->second.second.size() << std::endl ;
       }
       sstr << "---------------------------------------------------------------- " << std::endl ;
 
@@ -105,5 +162,5 @@ namespace dd4hep {
     }
 
 
-  } // namespace
-}// namespace
+  } // namespace rec
+} // namespace dd4hep