diff --git a/dune/fufem/boundarypatch.hh b/dune/fufem/boundarypatch.hh
index 72dcf96d0388d28553008ed62745541ba846fc91..55b88694187f8711f99674d503c3133bf37d1b93 100644
--- a/dune/fufem/boundarypatch.hh
+++ b/dune/fufem/boundarypatch.hh
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ public:
         const auto inside = i.inside();
         int localFaceIndex = i.indexInInside();
 
-        const Dune::ReferenceElement<double,dim>& refElement = Dune::ReferenceElements<double, dim>::general(inside.type());
+        const auto& refElement = Dune::ReferenceElements<double, dim>::general(inside.type());
 
         // Get global node ids
         int n = refElement.size(localFaceIndex, 1, dim);
@@ -849,7 +849,7 @@ protected:
         for (; it!=endIt; ++it) {
             const auto inside = it->inside();
 
-            const Dune::ReferenceElement<double,dim>& refElement = Dune::ReferenceElements<double, dim>::general(inside.type());
+            const auto& refElement = Dune::ReferenceElements<double, dim>::general(inside.type());
 
             // Get global node ids
             int n = refElement.size(it->indexInInside(),1,dim);
diff --git a/dune/fufem/facehierarchy.hh b/dune/fufem/facehierarchy.hh
index 23104cccf81770ea12ce05855f714805772c6f73..2e4223f2e144f5fae6b5b478584e674058c6d69f 100644
--- a/dune/fufem/facehierarchy.hh
+++ b/dune/fufem/facehierarchy.hh
@@ -32,16 +32,14 @@ struct FaceHierarchy
 
         static bool isSubFace(const Element& father, const int fatherFace, const Element& son, const int sonFace)
         {
-            typedef Dune::ReferenceElement<double, dim> RE;
-            typedef typename RE::template Codim<1>::Geometry Mapping;
             typedef typename Element::LocalGeometry::GlobalCoordinate LocalFatherCoordinate;
 
-            const RE& fatherRefElement = Dune::ReferenceElements<double, dim>::general(father.type());
-            const RE& sonRefElement = Dune::ReferenceElements<double, dim>::general(son.type());
+            const auto& fatherRefElement = Dune::ReferenceElements<double, dim>::general(father.type());
+            const auto& sonRefElement = Dune::ReferenceElements<double, dim>::general(son.type());
 
             LocalFatherCoordinate centerInFather = son.geometryInFather().global(sonRefElement.position(sonFace, 1));
 
-            const Mapping& mapping = fatherRefElement.template geometry<1>(fatherFace);
+            const auto& mapping = fatherRefElement.template geometry<1>(fatherFace);
 
             centerInFather -= mapping.global(mapping.local(centerInFather));
 
diff --git a/dune/fufem/quadraturerules/lumpingquadraturerule.hh b/dune/fufem/quadraturerules/lumpingquadraturerule.hh
index e3da99fb7c39448e20b2bc01bcfb4362d56e3bf9..9dbb0c662830096421ccf84c51110cd3b219c73f 100644
--- a/dune/fufem/quadraturerules/lumpingquadraturerule.hh
+++ b/dune/fufem/quadraturerules/lumpingquadraturerule.hh
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ class LumpingQuadratureRule :
         LumpingQuadratureRule(const Dune::GeometryType& gt) :
             Base(gt, 1)
         {
-            const Dune::ReferenceElement<ct,dim>& refElement = Dune::ReferenceElements<ct, dim>::general(this->type());
+            const auto& refElement = Dune::ReferenceElements<ct, dim>::general(this->type());
             int size = refElement.size(dim);
             ct weight = refElement.volume()/size;
             this->reserve(size);
diff --git a/dune/fufem/referenceelementhelper.hh b/dune/fufem/referenceelementhelper.hh
index 98cd51e5a74bca4d26d98728f4f9bc58418194e1..bee9b50ad6f42776d579af3f40a49e7da769bb86 100644
--- a/dune/fufem/referenceelementhelper.hh
+++ b/dune/fufem/referenceelementhelper.hh
@@ -37,8 +37,7 @@ struct ReferenceElementHelper
 
         // This use of ReferenceElement::subEntity is OK,
         // because we do a check for all passed indices.
-        const Dune::ReferenceElement<double,dim>& refElement
-            = Dune::ReferenceElements<double, dim>::general(gt);
+        const auto& refElement = Dune::ReferenceElements<double, dim>::general(gt);
         for (int k = 0; k < refElement.size(i, iCodim, jCodim); ++k)
             if (refElement.subEntity(i, iCodim, k, jCodim) == j)
                 return true;