diff --git a/phpBB/includes/avatars/avatar_base.php b/phpBB/includes/avatar/driver.php
similarity index 62%
rename from phpBB/includes/avatars/avatar_base.php
rename to phpBB/includes/avatar/driver.php
index c84a6e8a7f..777b225e84 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/avatars/avatar_base.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/avatar/driver.php
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <?php
 /**
 *
-* @package avatars
+* @package avatar
 * @copyright (c) 2005, 2009 phpBB Group
 * @license http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php GNU Public License
 *
@@ -16,16 +16,28 @@ if (!defined('IN_PHPBB'))
 }
 
 /**
-* Base class for avatar modules
+* Base class for avatar drivers
 * @package avatars
 */
-class phpbb_avatar_base
+abstract class phpbb_avatar_driver
 {
 	/**
-	* User data this avatar may use to generate a url or html
-	* @type array
+	* Current board configuration
+	* @type phpbb_config
 	*/
-	private $user_row;
+	protected $config;
+	
+	/**
+	* Current $phpbb_root_path
+	* @type string
+	*/
+	protected $phpbb_root_path;
+	
+	/**
+	* Current $phpEx
+	* @type string
+	*/
+	protected $php_ext;
 	
 	/**
 	* This flag should be set to true if the avatar requires a nonstandard image
@@ -39,9 +51,11 @@ class phpbb_avatar_base
 	*
 	* @param $user_row User data to base the avatar url/html on
 	*/
-	public function __construct(&$user_row)
+	public function __construct(phpbb_config $config, $phpbb_root_path, $php_ext)
 	{
-		$this->user_row = $user_row;
+		$this->config = $config;
+		$this->phpbb_root_path = $phpbb_root_path;
+		$this->php_ext = $php_ext;
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -51,7 +65,7 @@ class phpbb_avatar_base
 	*        should be ignored
 	* @return array Avatar data
 	*/
-	public function get_data($ignore_config = false)
+	public function get_data($user_row, $ignore_config = false)
 	{
 		return array(
 			'src' => '',
@@ -68,7 +82,7 @@ class phpbb_avatar_base
 	*        should be ignored
 	* @return string HTML
 	*/
-	public function get_custom_html($ignore_config = false)
+	public function get_custom_html($user_row, $ignore_config = false)
 	{
 		return '';
 	}
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/avatar/manager.php b/phpBB/includes/avatar/manager.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..04a4d8f425
--- /dev/null
+++ b/phpBB/includes/avatar/manager.php
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+<?php
+/**
+*
+* @package avatar
+* @copyright (c) 2010 phpBB Group
+* @license http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php GNU Public License
+*
+*/
+
+/**
+* @ignore
+*/
+if (!defined('IN_PHPBB'))
+{
+	exit;
+}
+
+/**
+* @package acm
+*/
+class phpbb_avatar_manager
+{
+	private $phpbb_root_path;
+	private $php_ext;
+	private $config;
+	private $cache;
+	private static $valid_drivers = false;
+
+	public function __construct($phpbb_root_path, $php_ext = '.php', phpbb_config $config, phpbb_cache_driver_interface $cache = null)
+	{
+		$this->phpbb_root_path = $phpbb_root_path;
+		$this->php_ext = $php_ext;
+		$this->config = $config;
+		$this->cache = $cache;
+	}
+
+	public function get_singleton($avatar_type)
+	{
+		if (self::$valid_drivers === false)
+		{
+			$this->load_valid_drivers();
+		}
+
+		if (isset(self::$valid_drivers[$avatar_type]))
+		{
+			if (!is_object(self::$valid_drivers[$avatar_type]))
+			{
+				$class_name = 'phpbb_avatar_driver_' . $avatar_type;
+				self::$valid_drivers[$avatar_type] = new $class_name($this->config, $this->phpbb_root_path, $this->php_ext);
+			}
+
+			return self::$valid_drivers[$avatar_type];
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			return null;
+		}
+	}
+
+	private function load_valid_drivers()
+	{
+		require_once($this->phpbb_root_path . 'includes/avatar/driver.' . $this->php_ext);
+
+		if ($this->cache)
+		{
+			self::$valid_drivers = $this->cache->get('avatar_drivers');
+		}
+
+		if (empty($this->valid_drivers))
+		{
+			self::$valid_drivers = array();
+
+			$iterator = new DirectoryIterator($this->phpbb_root_path . 'includes/avatar/driver');
+
+			foreach ($iterator as $file)
+			{
+				if (preg_match("/^(.*)\.{$this->php_ext}$/", $file, $match))
+				{
+					self::$valid_drivers[] = $match[1];
+				}
+			}
+
+			self::$valid_drivers = array_flip(self::$valid_drivers);
+
+			if ($this->cache)
+			{
+				$this->cache->put('avatar_drivers', self::$valid_drivers);
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/functions_display.php b/phpBB/includes/functions_display.php
index eba123be9d..3aeee5f704 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/functions_display.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/functions_display.php
@@ -1278,10 +1278,12 @@ function get_user_rank($user_rank, $user_posts, &$rank_title, &$rank_img, &$rank
 *
 * @return string Avatar html
 */
-function get_user_avatar(&$user_row, $alt = 'USER_AVATAR', $ignore_config = false)
+function get_user_avatar($user_row, $alt = 'USER_AVATAR', $ignore_config = false)
 {
 	global $user, $config, $cache, $phpbb_root_path, $phpEx;
 
+	static $avatar_manager = null;
+
 	if (!$config['allow_avatar'] && !$ignore_config)
 	{
 		return '';
@@ -1334,47 +1336,26 @@ function get_user_avatar(&$user_row, $alt = 'USER_AVATAR', $ignore_config = fals
 		break;
 
 		default:
-			$class = 'phpbb_avatar_' . $user_row['user_avatar_type'];
-			
-			if (!class_exists($class))
+			if (empty($avatar_manager))
 			{
-				$avatar_types = $cache->get('avatar_types');
-			
-				if (empty($avatar_types))
-				{
-					$avatar_types = array();
-				
-					if ($dh = @opendir($phpbb_root_path . 'includes/avatars'))
-					{
-						while ($file = @readdir($dh))
-						{
-							if (preg_match("/avatar_(.*)\.$phpEx/", $file, $match))
-							{
-								$avatar_types[] = $match[1];
-							}
-						}
-
-						@closedir($dh);
-
-						sort($avatar_types);
-						$cache->put('avatar_types', $avatar_types);
-					}
-				}
-
-				if (in_array($user_row['user_avatar_type'], $avatar_types))
-				{
-					require_once($phpbb_root_path . 'includes/avatars/avatar_' . $user_row['user_avatar_type'] . '.' . $phpEx);
-				}
+				$avatar_manager = new phpbb_avatar_manager($phpbb_root_path, $phpEx, $config, $cache->get_driver());
 			}
 
-			$avatar = new $class($user_row);
+			$avatar = $avatar_manager->get_singleton($user_row['user_avatar_type']);
 
-			if ($avatar->custom_html)
+			if ($avatar)
 			{
-				return $avatar->get_custom_html($ignore_config);
-			}
+				if ($avatar->custom_html)
+				{
+					return $avatar->get_html($user_row, $ignore_config);
+				}
 
-			$avatar_data = $avatar->get_data($ignore_config);
+				$avatar_data = $avatar->get_data($user_row, $ignore_config);
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				$avatar_data['src'] = '';
+			}
 
 			break;
 	}
@@ -1401,7 +1382,7 @@ function get_user_avatar(&$user_row, $alt = 'USER_AVATAR', $ignore_config = fals
 *
 * @return string Avatar html
 */
-function get_group_avatar(&$group_row, $alt = 'GROUP_AVATAR', $ignore_config = false)
+function get_group_avatar($group_row, $alt = 'GROUP_AVATAR', $ignore_config = false)
 {
 	// Kind of abusing this functionality...
 	$avatar_row = array(