diff --git a/compaction_strategy.hh b/compaction_strategy.hh
index 26b0b0bbc8..e35a7508cb 100644
--- a/compaction_strategy.hh
+++ b/compaction_strategy.hh
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
 #pragma once
 
 class column_family;
+class schema;
+using schema_ptr = lw_shared_ptr<const schema>;
 
 namespace sstables {
 
@@ -35,6 +37,7 @@ enum class compaction_strategy_type {
 
 class compaction_strategy_impl;
 class sstable;
+class sstable_set;
 struct compaction_descriptor;
 
 class compaction_strategy {
@@ -90,6 +93,8 @@ public:
     sstring name() const {
         return name(type());
     }
+
+    sstable_set make_sstable_set(schema_ptr schema) const;
 };
 
 // Creates a compaction_strategy object from one of the strategies available.
diff --git a/sstables/compaction_strategy.cc b/sstables/compaction_strategy.cc
index 444babe86e..90b8b43106 100644
--- a/sstables/compaction_strategy.cc
+++ b/sstables/compaction_strategy.cc
@@ -214,6 +214,9 @@ public:
     virtual bool parallel_compaction() const {
         return true;
     }
+    virtual std::unique_ptr<sstable_set_impl> make_sstable_set(schema_ptr schema) const {
+        return std::make_unique<bag_sstable_set>();
+    }
 };
 
 //
@@ -567,6 +570,9 @@ public:
     virtual compaction_strategy_type type() const {
         return compaction_strategy_type::leveled;
     }
+    virtual std::unique_ptr<sstable_set_impl> make_sstable_set(schema_ptr schema) const override {
+        return std::make_unique<partitioned_sstable_set>(std::move(schema));
+    }
 };
 
 compaction_descriptor leveled_compaction_strategy::get_sstables_for_compaction(column_family& cfs, std::vector<sstables::shared_sstable> candidates) {
@@ -605,6 +611,13 @@ bool compaction_strategy::parallel_compaction() const {
     return _compaction_strategy_impl->parallel_compaction();
 }
 
+sstable_set
+compaction_strategy::make_sstable_set(schema_ptr schema) const {
+    return sstable_set(
+            _compaction_strategy_impl->make_sstable_set(std::move(schema)),
+            make_lw_shared<sstable_list>());
+}
+
 compaction_strategy make_compaction_strategy(compaction_strategy_type strategy, const std::map<sstring, sstring>& options) {
     ::shared_ptr<compaction_strategy_impl> impl;