diff --git a/thorlcr/activities/hashdistrib/thhashdistribslave.cpp b/thorlcr/activities/hashdistrib/thhashdistribslave.cpp
index da214c0f16a..f34d124b803 100644
--- a/thorlcr/activities/hashdistrib/thhashdistribslave.cpp
+++ b/thorlcr/activities/hashdistrib/thhashdistribslave.cpp
@@ -1072,6 +1072,8 @@ class CDistributorBase : implements IHashDistributor, implements IExceptionHandl
     StringAttr id; // for tracing
     ICompressHandler *compressHandler;
     StringBuffer compressOptions;
+    LookAheadOptions options;
+    bool newLookAhead = false;
 public:
     IMPLEMENT_IINTERFACE_USING(CInterface);
 
@@ -1126,6 +1128,10 @@ class CDistributorBase : implements IHashDistributor, implements IExceptionHandl
         ::ActPrintLog(activity, thorDetailedLogLevel, "inputBufferSize : %d, bucketSendSize = %d, pullBufferSize=%d", inputBufferSize, bucketSendSize, pullBufferSize);
         targetWriterLimit = activity->getOptUInt(THOROPT_HDIST_TARGETWRITELIMIT);
         ::ActPrintLog(activity, thorDetailedLogLevel, "targetWriterLimit : %d", targetWriterLimit);
+
+        newLookAhead = activity->getOptBool("newlookahead", false);
+        if (newLookAhead)
+            populateLookAheadOptions(*activity, options);
     }
 
     virtual void beforeDispose()
@@ -1187,7 +1193,14 @@ class CDistributorBase : implements IHashDistributor, implements IExceptionHandl
         {
             StringBuffer temp;
             GetTempFilePath(temp,"hddrecvbuff");
-            piperd.setown(createSmartBuffer(activity, temp.str(), pullBufferSize, rowIf));
+            if (newLookAhead)
+            {
+                options.totalCompressionBufferSize = pullBufferSize; // hd option overrides defaults
+                ICompressHandler *compressHandler = pullBufferSize ? queryDefaultCompressHandler() : nullptr;
+                piperd.setown(createCompressedSpillingRowStream(activity, temp.str(), false, rowIf, options, compressHandler));
+            }
+            else
+                piperd.setown(createSmartBuffer(activity, temp.str(), pullBufferSize, rowIf));
         }
         else
             piperd.setown(createSmartInMemoryBuffer(activity, rowIf, pullBufferSize));
diff --git a/thorlcr/activities/thactivityutil.cpp b/thorlcr/activities/thactivityutil.cpp
index fe9a960bb74..2beb728f227 100644
--- a/thorlcr/activities/thactivityutil.cpp
+++ b/thorlcr/activities/thactivityutil.cpp
@@ -224,21 +224,7 @@ class CRowStreamLookAhead : public CSimpleInterfaceOf<IStartableEngineRowStream>
             allowspill = true;
         }
 
-        // for "newlookahead" only
-        if (isContainerized())
-        {
-            // JCSMORE - add CJobBase::getTempBlockSize() to calc. once.
-            StringBuffer planeName;
-            if (!getDefaultPlane(planeName, "@tempPlane", "temp"))
-                getDefaultPlane(planeName, "@spillPlane", "spill");
-            size32_t blockedSequentialIOSize = getPlaneAttributeValue(planeName, BlockedSequentialIO, (size32_t)-1);
-            if ((size32_t)-1 != blockedSequentialIOSize)
-                options.storageBlockSize = blockedSequentialIOSize;
-        }
-        options.totalCompressionBufferSize = activity.getOptInt(THOROPT_LOOKAHEAD_COMPRESSIONTOTALK, options.totalCompressionBufferSize / 1024) * 1024;
-        options.inMemMaxMem = activity.getOptInt(THOROPT_LOOKAHEAD_MAXROWMEMK, options.inMemMaxMem / 1024) * 1024;
-        options.writeAheadSize = activity.getOptInt64(THOROPT_LOOKAHEAD_WRITEAHEADK, options.writeAheadSize / 1024) * 1024;
-        options.tempFileGranularity = activity.getOptInt64(THOROPT_LOOKAHEAD_TEMPFILE_GRANULARITY, options.tempFileGranularity / 0x100000) * 0x100000;
+        populateLookAheadOptions(activity, options);
     }
     ~CRowStreamLookAhead()
     {
diff --git a/thorlcr/thorutil/thbuf.cpp b/thorlcr/thorutil/thbuf.cpp
index 2e45c7c78d8..7c5d533fa77 100644
--- a/thorlcr/thorutil/thbuf.cpp
+++ b/thorlcr/thorutil/thbuf.cpp
@@ -2957,3 +2957,19 @@ class CRCFileStream: public CSimpleInterface, implements IFileIOStream
     }
 };
 
+void populateLookAheadOptions(CActivityBase &activity, LookAheadOptions &options)
+{
+    if (isContainerized())
+    {
+        StringBuffer planeName;
+        if (!getDefaultPlane(planeName, "@tempPlane", "temp"))
+            getDefaultPlane(planeName, "@spillPlane", "spill");
+        size32_t blockedSequentialIOSize = getPlaneAttributeValue(planeName, BlockedSequentialIO, (size32_t)-1);
+        if ((size32_t)-1 != blockedSequentialIOSize)
+            options.storageBlockSize = blockedSequentialIOSize;
+    }
+    options.totalCompressionBufferSize = activity.getOptInt(THOROPT_LOOKAHEAD_COMPRESSIONTOTALK, options.totalCompressionBufferSize / 1024) * 1024;
+    options.inMemMaxMem = activity.getOptInt(THOROPT_LOOKAHEAD_MAXROWMEMK, options.inMemMaxMem / 1024) * 1024;
+    options.writeAheadSize = activity.getOptInt64(THOROPT_LOOKAHEAD_WRITEAHEADK, options.writeAheadSize / 1024) * 1024;
+    options.tempFileGranularity = activity.getOptInt64(THOROPT_LOOKAHEAD_TEMPFILE_GRANULARITY, options.tempFileGranularity / 0x100000) * 0x100000;
+}
diff --git a/thorlcr/thorutil/thbuf.hpp b/thorlcr/thorutil/thbuf.hpp
index fb5a66af8fa..69a28f04824 100644
--- a/thorlcr/thorutil/thbuf.hpp
+++ b/thorlcr/thorutil/thbuf.hpp
@@ -132,5 +132,6 @@ interface IRowMultiWriterReader : extends IRowStream
 #define DEFAULT_WR_WRITE_GRANULARITY 1000 // Amount writers buffer up before committing to output
 extern graph_decl IRowMultiWriterReader *createSharedWriteBuffer(CActivityBase *activity, IThorRowInterfaces *rowif, unsigned limit, unsigned readGranularity=DEFAULT_WR_READ_GRANULARITY, unsigned writeGranularity=DEFAULT_WR_WRITE_GRANULARITY);
 
+extern graph_decl void populateLookAheadOptions(CActivityBase &activity, LookAheadOptions &options);
 
 #endif