diff --git a/distribution/changelog.txt b/distribution/changelog.txt
index 77c0b6aeec..7464bb2c8c 100644
--- a/distribution/changelog.txt
+++ b/distribution/changelog.txt
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 - Fix: [#14682] Crash when painting Swinging Ships with invalid subtype.
 - Fix: [#14707] Crash when window is closed during text input.
 - Fix: [#14710] Ride/Track Design preview does not show if it costs more money than available.
-- Improved: [#14712]: Improve startup times.
+- Improved: [#14712, #14716]: Improve startup times.
 
 0.3.3 (2021-03-13)
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/openrct2/rct12/SawyerChunk.cpp b/src/openrct2/rct12/SawyerChunk.cpp
index b5db22a579..6873c94924 100644
--- a/src/openrct2/rct12/SawyerChunk.cpp
+++ b/src/openrct2/rct12/SawyerChunk.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*****************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 2014-2020 OpenRCT2 developers
+ * Copyright (c) 2014-2021 OpenRCT2 developers
  *
  * For a complete list of all authors, please refer to contributors.md
  * Interested in contributing? Visit https://github.com/OpenRCT2/OpenRCT2
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 #include "SawyerChunk.h"
 
 #include "../core/Memory.hpp"
+#include "SawyerChunkReader.h"
 
 SawyerChunk::SawyerChunk(SAWYER_ENCODING encoding, void* data, size_t length)
 {
@@ -20,5 +21,5 @@ SawyerChunk::SawyerChunk(SAWYER_ENCODING encoding, void* data, size_t length)
 
 SawyerChunk::~SawyerChunk()
 {
-    Memory::Free(_data);
+    SawyerChunkReader::FreeChunk(_data);
 }
diff --git a/src/openrct2/rct12/SawyerChunkReader.cpp b/src/openrct2/rct12/SawyerChunkReader.cpp
index f1bf44933f..cf03dfdc5b 100644
--- a/src/openrct2/rct12/SawyerChunkReader.cpp
+++ b/src/openrct2/rct12/SawyerChunkReader.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*****************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 2014-2020 OpenRCT2 developers
+ * Copyright (c) 2014-2021 OpenRCT2 developers
  *
  * For a complete list of all authors, please refer to contributors.md
  * Interested in contributing? Visit https://github.com/OpenRCT2/OpenRCT2
@@ -27,8 +27,9 @@ constexpr const char* EXCEPTION_MSG_DESTINATION_TOO_SMALL = "Chunk data larger t
 constexpr const char* EXCEPTION_MSG_INVALID_CHUNK_ENCODING = "Invalid chunk encoding.";
 constexpr const char* EXCEPTION_MSG_ZERO_SIZED_CHUNK = "Encountered zero-sized chunk.";
 
-SawyerChunkReader::SawyerChunkReader(OpenRCT2::IStream* stream)
+SawyerChunkReader::SawyerChunkReader(OpenRCT2::IStream* stream, bool persistentChunks)
     : _stream(stream)
+    , _createsPersistentChunks(persistentChunks)
 {
 }
 
@@ -78,7 +79,10 @@ std::shared_ptr<SawyerChunk> SawyerChunkReader::ReadChunk()
                     {
                         throw SawyerChunkException(EXCEPTION_MSG_ZERO_SIZED_CHUNK);
                     }
-                    buffer = static_cast<uint8_t*>(FinaliseLargeTempBuffer(buffer, uncompressedLength));
+                    if (_createsPersistentChunks)
+                    {
+                        buffer = static_cast<uint8_t*>(FinaliseLargeTempBuffer(buffer, uncompressedLength));
+                    }
                     return std::make_shared<SawyerChunk>(
                         static_cast<SAWYER_ENCODING>(header.encoding), buffer, uncompressedLength);
                 }
@@ -126,7 +130,10 @@ std::shared_ptr<SawyerChunk> SawyerChunkReader::ReadChunkTrack()
         {
             throw SawyerChunkException(EXCEPTION_MSG_ZERO_SIZED_CHUNK);
         }
-        buffer = static_cast<uint8_t*>(FinaliseLargeTempBuffer(buffer, uncompressedLength));
+        if (_createsPersistentChunks)
+        {
+            buffer = static_cast<uint8_t*>(FinaliseLargeTempBuffer(buffer, uncompressedLength));
+        }
         return std::make_shared<SawyerChunk>(SAWYER_ENCODING::RLE, buffer, uncompressedLength);
     }
     catch (const std::exception&)
@@ -158,6 +165,11 @@ void SawyerChunkReader::ReadChunk(void* dst, size_t length)
     }
 }
 
+void SawyerChunkReader::FreeChunk(void* data)
+{
+    FreeLargeTempBuffer(data);
+}
+
 size_t SawyerChunkReader::DecodeChunk(void* dst, size_t dstCapacity, const void* src, const sawyercoding_chunk_header& header)
 {
     size_t resultLength;
@@ -315,9 +327,7 @@ void* SawyerChunkReader::AllocateLargeTempBuffer()
 void* SawyerChunkReader::FinaliseLargeTempBuffer(void* buffer, size_t len)
 {
 #ifdef __USE_HEAP_ALLOC__
-    auto finalBuffer = std::malloc(len);
-    std::memcpy(finalBuffer, buffer, len);
-    HeapFree(GetProcessHeap(), 0, buffer);
+    auto finalBuffer = HeapReAlloc(GetProcessHeap(), 0, buffer, len);
 #else
     auto finalBuffer = static_cast<uint8_t*>(std::realloc(buffer, len));
 #endif
diff --git a/src/openrct2/rct12/SawyerChunkReader.h b/src/openrct2/rct12/SawyerChunkReader.h
index 8fb370b25e..0873c8b845 100644
--- a/src/openrct2/rct12/SawyerChunkReader.h
+++ b/src/openrct2/rct12/SawyerChunkReader.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*****************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 2014-2020 OpenRCT2 developers
+ * Copyright (c) 2014-2021 OpenRCT2 developers
  *
  * For a complete list of all authors, please refer to contributors.md
  * Interested in contributing? Visit https://github.com/OpenRCT2/OpenRCT2
@@ -36,15 +36,17 @@ namespace OpenRCT2
 
 /**
  * Reads sawyer encoding chunks from a data stream. This can be used to read
- * SC6, SV6 and RCT2 objects.
+ * SC6, SV6 and RCT2 objects. persistentChunks is a hint to the reader that the chunk will be preserved,
+ * and thus the chunk memory should be shrunk.
  */
 class SawyerChunkReader final
 {
 private:
     OpenRCT2::IStream* const _stream = nullptr;
+    const bool _createsPersistentChunks = false;
 
 public:
-    explicit SawyerChunkReader(OpenRCT2::IStream* stream);
+    explicit SawyerChunkReader(OpenRCT2::IStream* stream, bool persistentChunks = false);
 
     /**
      * Skips the next chunk in the stream without decoding or reading its data
@@ -84,6 +86,11 @@ public:
         return result;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Frees the chunk data, to be used when destructing SawyerChunks
+     */
+    static void FreeChunk(void* data);
+
 private:
     static size_t DecodeChunk(void* dst, size_t dstCapacity, const void* src, const sawyercoding_chunk_header& header);
     static size_t DecodeChunkRLERepeat(void* dst, size_t dstCapacity, const void* src, size_t srcLength);