diff --git a/Surface_mesh_simplification/include/CGAL/Surface_mesh_simplification/Detail/Edge_collapse.h b/Surface_mesh_simplification/include/CGAL/Surface_mesh_simplification/Detail/Edge_collapse.h
index 1b5fb7f7e5e..46dffe96bef 100644
--- a/Surface_mesh_simplification/include/CGAL/Surface_mesh_simplification/Detail/Edge_collapse.h
+++ b/Surface_mesh_simplification/include/CGAL/Surface_mesh_simplification/Detail/Edge_collapse.h
@@ -233,7 +233,8 @@ private:
     return mEdgeDataArray[get_edge_id(aEdge)];
   }
   
-  Point const& get_point ( vertex_descriptor const& aV ) const
+  typename boost::property_traits<VertexPointMap>::reference
+  get_point ( vertex_descriptor const& aV ) const
   {
     return get(Vertex_point_map,aV);
   }
diff --git a/Surface_mesh_simplification/include/CGAL/Surface_mesh_simplification/Policies/Edge_collapse/Constrained_placement.h b/Surface_mesh_simplification/include/CGAL/Surface_mesh_simplification/Policies/Edge_collapse/Constrained_placement.h
index 84427103809..d1b90a64d35 100644
--- a/Surface_mesh_simplification/include/CGAL/Surface_mesh_simplification/Policies/Edge_collapse/Constrained_placement.h
+++ b/Surface_mesh_simplification/include/CGAL/Surface_mesh_simplification/Policies/Edge_collapse/Constrained_placement.h
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@ public:
   optional<typename Profile::Point> operator()( Profile const& aProfile ) const
   {
     typedef typename Profile::ECM                                ECM;
-    typedef typename boost::graph_traits<ECM>            GraphTraits;
     typedef typename CGAL::Halfedge_around_target_iterator<ECM>  in_edge_iterator;
 
     in_edge_iterator eb, ee ;
diff --git a/Surface_mesh_simplification/include/CGAL/Surface_mesh_simplification/Policies/Edge_collapse/Detail/Lindstrom_Turk_core.h b/Surface_mesh_simplification/include/CGAL/Surface_mesh_simplification/Policies/Edge_collapse/Detail/Lindstrom_Turk_core.h
index ad8c829ab8b..7a5fa2eca2e 100644
--- a/Surface_mesh_simplification/include/CGAL/Surface_mesh_simplification/Policies/Edge_collapse/Detail/Lindstrom_Turk_core.h
+++ b/Surface_mesh_simplification/include/CGAL/Surface_mesh_simplification/Policies/Edge_collapse/Detail/Lindstrom_Turk_core.h
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ private :
   FT Compute_volume_cost  ( Vector const& v, Triangle_data_vector const& aTriangles ) ;
   FT Compute_shape_cost   ( Point  const& p, vertex_descriptor_vector const& aLink ) ;
 
-  Point get_point ( vertex_descriptor const& v ) const 
+  Point get_point ( vertex_descriptor const& v ) const
   {
     return convert(get(mProfile.vertex_point_map(),v));
   }