diff --git a/applications/utilities/surface/surfaceMeshInfo/Make/files b/applications/utilities/surface/surfaceMeshInfo/Make/files
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a008b33fd2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/applications/utilities/surface/surfaceMeshInfo/Make/files
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+surfaceMeshInfo.C
+
+EXE = $(FOAM_APPBIN)/surfaceMeshInfo
diff --git a/applications/utilities/surface/surfaceMeshInfo/Make/options b/applications/utilities/surface/surfaceMeshInfo/Make/options
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..42b30c8652
--- /dev/null
+++ b/applications/utilities/surface/surfaceMeshInfo/Make/options
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+EXE_INC = \
+    -I$(LIB_SRC)/meshTools/lnInclude \
+    -I$(LIB_SRC)/surfMesh/lnInclude
+
+EXE_LIBS = -lmeshTools -lsurfMesh
diff --git a/applications/utilities/surface/surfaceMeshInfo/surfaceMeshInfo.C b/applications/utilities/surface/surfaceMeshInfo/surfaceMeshInfo.C
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..39d672a341
--- /dev/null
+++ b/applications/utilities/surface/surfaceMeshInfo/surfaceMeshInfo.C
@@ -0,0 +1,230 @@
+/*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*\
+  =========                 |
+  \\      /  F ield         | OpenFOAM: The Open Source CFD Toolbox
+   \\    /   O peration     |
+    \\  /    A nd           | Copyright (C) 2011-2011 OpenCFD Ltd.
+     \\/     M anipulation  |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+License
+    This file is part of OpenFOAM.
+
+    OpenFOAM is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+    under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+    the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+    (at your option) any later version.
+
+    OpenFOAM is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+    ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+    FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
+    for more details.
+
+    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+    along with OpenFOAM.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+Application
+    surfaceMeshInfo
+
+Description
+    Miscellaneous information about surface meshes
+
+Usage
+    - surfaceMeshInfo surfaceFile [OPTION]
+
+    \param -areas \n
+    Report area for each face.
+
+    \param -scale \<scale\> \n
+    Specify a scaling factor when reading files.
+
+    \param -xml \n
+    Write output in XML format.
+
+Note
+    The filename extensions are used to determine the file format type.
+
+    The XML-like output can be useful for extraction with other tools,
+    but either output format can be easily extracted with a simple sed
+    command:
+    \verbatim
+        surfaceMeshInfo surfaceFile -areas | \
+            sed -ne '/areas/,/:/{ /:/!p }'
+
+        surfaceMeshInfo surfaceFile -areas -xml | \
+            sed -ne '/<areas/,/</{ /</!p }'
+    \endverbatim
+
+\*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
+
+#include "argList.H"
+#include "timeSelector.H"
+#include "Time.H"
+
+#include "UnsortedMeshedSurfaces.H"
+
+using namespace Foam;
+
+
+//
+// duplicates code from primitiveMeshFaceCentresAndAreas.C
+// should be refactored
+//
+Foam::vector faceArea(const face& fs, const pointField& p)
+{
+    const labelList& f = fs;
+    label nPoints = f.size();
+
+    point fCentre;
+    vector fArea;
+
+    // If the face is a triangle, do a direct calculation for efficiency
+    // and to avoid round-off error-related problems
+    if (nPoints == 3)
+    {
+        fCentre = (1.0/3.0)*(p[f[0]] + p[f[1]] + p[f[2]]);
+        fArea = 0.5*((p[f[1]] - p[f[0]])^(p[f[2]] - p[f[0]]));
+    }
+    else
+    {
+        fCentre = p[f[0]];
+        for (label pi = 1; pi < nPoints; ++pi)
+        {
+            fCentre += p[f[pi]];
+        }
+
+        fCentre /= nPoints;
+
+        vector sumN = vector::zero;
+        scalar sumA = 0.0;
+        vector sumAc = vector::zero;
+
+        for (label pi = 0; pi < nPoints; ++pi)
+        {
+            const point& nextPoint = p[f[(pi + 1) % nPoints]];
+
+            const vector c = p[f[pi]] + nextPoint + fCentre;
+            const vector n = (nextPoint - p[f[pi]])^(fCentre - p[f[pi]]);
+            const scalar a = mag(n);
+
+            sumN += n;
+            sumA += a;
+            sumAc += a*c;
+        }
+
+        fArea = 0.5*sumN;
+    }
+
+    return fArea;
+}
+
+
+// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * //
+//  Main program:
+
+int main(int argc, char *argv[])
+{
+    argList::addNote
+    (
+        "information about surface meshes"
+    );
+
+    argList::noBanner();
+    argList::noParallel();
+    argList::validArgs.append("surfaceFile");
+
+    argList::addOption
+    (
+        "scale",
+        "factor",
+        "geometry scaling factor - default is 1"
+    );
+    argList::addBoolOption
+    (
+        "areas",
+        "display area of each face"
+    );
+    argList::addBoolOption
+    (
+        "xml",
+        "write output in XML format"
+    );
+
+    argList args(argc, argv);
+    Time runTime(args.rootPath(), args.caseName());
+
+    const fileName importName = args[1];
+
+    // check that reading is supported
+    if (!UnsortedMeshedSurface<face>::canRead(importName, true))
+    {
+        return 1;
+    }
+
+    const bool writeXML = args.optionFound("xml");
+    const bool writeAreas = args.optionFound("areas");
+
+
+    // use UnsortedMeshedSurface, not MeshedSurface to maintain ordering
+    UnsortedMeshedSurface<face> surf(importName);
+
+    scalar scaling = 0;
+    if (args.optionReadIfPresent("scale", scaling) && scaling > 0)
+    {
+        Info<< " -scale " << scaling << endl;
+        surf.scalePoints(scaling);
+    }
+
+    scalar areaTotal = 0;
+
+    if (writeXML)
+    {
+        Info<<"<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>" << nl
+            <<"<surfaceMeshInfo>" << nl
+            << "<npoints>" << surf.nPoints() << "</npoints>" << nl
+            << "<nfaces>"  << surf.size() << "</nfaces>" << nl;
+
+        if (writeAreas)
+        {
+            Info<<"<areas size='" << surf.size() << "'>" << nl;
+        }
+    }
+    else
+    {
+        Info<< "nPoints   : " << surf.nPoints() << nl
+            << "nFaces    : " << surf.size() << nl;
+
+        if (writeAreas)
+        {
+            Info<< "areas     : " << nl;
+        }
+    }
+
+    forAll(surf, faceI)
+    {
+        scalar fArea = mag(faceArea(surf[faceI], surf.points()));
+        areaTotal += fArea;
+
+        if (writeAreas)
+        {
+            Info<< fArea << nl;
+        }
+    }
+
+    if (writeXML)
+    {
+        if (writeAreas)
+        {
+            Info<<"</areas>" << nl;
+        }
+
+        Info<< "<area>" << areaTotal << "</area>" << nl
+            << "</surfaceMeshInfo>" << nl;
+    }
+    else
+    {
+        Info<< "area      : " << areaTotal << nl;
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
+// ************************************************************************* //