diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Core/Services/IUserService.cs b/src/Umbraco.Core/Services/IUserService.cs
index 8549699c53..3c37ad0e22 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Core/Services/IUserService.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Core/Services/IUserService.cs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Web;
 using Umbraco.Core.Models.Membership;
 
@@ -44,5 +45,11 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core.Services
         /// </summary>
         /// <param name="sectionAlias"></param>
         void DeleteSectionFromAllUsers(string sectionAlias);
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Returns a list of the sections that the user is allowed access to
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <returns></returns>
+        IEnumerable<string> GetUserSections(IUser user);
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Core/Services/UserService.cs b/src/Umbraco.Core/Services/UserService.cs
index e451d3aa05..fe3c0a367e 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Core/Services/UserService.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Core/Services/UserService.cs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Globalization;
 using System.Linq;
 using Umbraco.Core.Events;
@@ -139,6 +140,21 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core.Services
             }
         }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Returns the user's applications that they are allowed to access
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="user"></param>
+        /// <returns></returns>
+        public IEnumerable<string> GetUserSections(IUser user)
+        {
+            //TODO: We need to cache this result, should all caching be done in the repo level ?
+
+            var uow = _uowProvider.GetUnitOfWork();
+            var sql = new Sql();
+            sql.Select("app").From<User2AppDto>().Where("[user] = @userID", new {userID = user.Id});
+            return uow.Database.Fetch<string>(sql);
+        }
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Creates a new user for logging into the umbraco backoffice
         /// </summary>
diff --git a/src/umbraco.businesslogic/User.cs b/src/umbraco.businesslogic/User.cs
index 8a2af06082..f49af6ff1d 100644
--- a/src/umbraco.businesslogic/User.cs
+++ b/src/umbraco.businesslogic/User.cs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ using System.Web.Caching;
 using Umbraco.Core;
 using Umbraco.Core.Cache;
 using Umbraco.Core.Logging;
+using Umbraco.Core.Models.Membership;
 using umbraco.DataLayer;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Linq;
@@ -37,6 +38,23 @@ namespace umbraco.BusinessLogic
             get { return Application.SqlHelper; }
         }
 
+        internal User(IUser user)
+        {
+            _userNoConsole = user.NoConsole;
+            _userDisabled = user.IsLockedOut;
+            _name = user.Name;
+            _loginname = user.Username;
+            _email = user.Email;
+            _language = user.Language;
+            _startnodeid = user.StartContentId;
+            _startmediaid = user.StartMediaId;
+            //this is cached, so should be 'ok'
+            _usertype = UserType.GetUserType(user.UserType.Id);
+            _defaultToLiveEditing = user.DefaultToLiveEditing;
+
+            _isInitialized = true;
+        }
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="User"/> class.
         /// </summary>