diff --git a/Database/APR/RootCollection/src/RootCollectionMetadata.cpp b/Database/APR/RootCollection/src/RootCollectionMetadata.cpp
index 016ec419de80cdc7197b1613c2dd2cb816a31777..1da914ab43b3e27dad3908d6dbc549761c88f9ed 100644
--- a/Database/APR/RootCollection/src/RootCollectionMetadata.cpp
+++ b/Database/APR/RootCollection/src/RootCollectionMetadata.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-  Copyright (C) 2002-2017 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration
+  Copyright (C) 2002-2020 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration
 */
 
 #include "RootCollectionMetadata.h"
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ namespace pool {
          if( !m_hasKeys )
             readKeys();
          return ICollectionMetadata::const_iterator(
-            new RootCollectionMetadataIterator( m_keyMap.begin(), this ) );
+             std::make_unique<RootCollectionMetadataIterator>( m_keyMap.begin(), this ) );
       }
 
         
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ namespace pool {
          if( !m_hasKeys )   // check also here, in case End is evaluated before Begin
             readKeys();
          return ICollectionMetadata::const_iterator(
-            new RootCollectionMetadataIterator( m_keyMap.end(), this ) );
+            std::make_unique<RootCollectionMetadataIterator>( m_keyMap.end(), this ) );
       }
         
    } // end namespace
diff --git a/Database/APR/RootCollection/src/RootCollectionMetadata.h b/Database/APR/RootCollection/src/RootCollectionMetadata.h
index 473524a4d3da1e178edc9ec20cf71fdb4732dad3..0a128659cdcd90c7ff695beccb78d1b131eff26e 100644
--- a/Database/APR/RootCollection/src/RootCollectionMetadata.h
+++ b/Database/APR/RootCollection/src/RootCollectionMetadata.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-  Copyright (C) 2002-2017 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration
+  Copyright (C) 2002-2020 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration
 */
 
 #ifndef RootCollectionMetadata_h
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ namespace pool {
         class RootCollectionMetadataIterator
            : public ICollectionMetadata::ICollectionMetadataIterator
         {
+        public:
        friend class RootCollectionMetadata;
           
           RootCollectionMetadataIterator( const MetadataKeyMap_t::const_iterator& iter,