diff --git a/scripts/cmake/util_functions.cmake b/scripts/cmake/util_functions.cmake
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/scripts/cmake/util_functions.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+#----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+#  Copyright (c) 2021 Arm Limited. All rights reserved.
+#  SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+#
+#  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+#  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+#  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+#  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+#  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+#  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+#  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+#  limitations under the License.
+#----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+##############################################################################
+# Helper function to provide user option and corresponding default value
+##############################################################################
+function(USER_OPTION name description default type)
+
+    if (NOT DEFINED ${name})
+        set(${name} ${default} CACHE ${type} ${description})
+    endif()
+
+    # if it is a path
+    if (${type} STREQUAL PATH)
+
+        # Get the absolute path, relative to the cmake root
+        get_filename_component(ABSPATH "${${name}}" ABSOLUTE BASE_DIR ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
+
+        # check that this is a directory
+        if (NOT IS_DIRECTORY ${ABSPATH})
+            message(FATAL_ERROR
+                "Invalid directory path. Description: ${description}; Path: ${ABSPATH}")
+        endif()
+
+        set(${name} ${ABSPATH} CACHE ${type} ${description} FORCE)
+
+    # if this is a file path
+    elseif(${type} STREQUAL FILEPATH)
+
+        # Get the absolute path, relative to the cmake root
+        get_filename_component(ABSPATH "${${name}}" ABSOLUTE BASE_DIR ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
+
+        # check that the file exists:
+        if (NOT EXISTS ${ABSPATH})
+            message(FATAL_ERROR
+                "Invalid file path. Description: ${description}; Path: ${ABSPATH}")
+        endif()
+
+        set(${name} ${ABSPATH} CACHE ${type} ${description} FORCE)
+
+    endif()
+
+    message(STATUS "User option ${name} is set to ${${name}}")
+    LIST(APPEND USER_OPTIONS ${name})
+    set(USER_OPTIONS ${USER_OPTIONS} CACHE INTERNAL "")
+
+endfunction()
+
+# Function to get the path type for a variable
+# Args:
+#   path_var[in]:           path variable for which the cmake path type is requested
+#   cmake_path_type[out]:   CMake path type. Set to FILEPATH when it is a file
+#                           or PATH when it points to a directory. If the path
+#                           is invalid, this remains empty.
+function(get_path_type path_var cmake_path_type)
+    # Validate path - get absolute value
+    get_filename_component(ABSPATH "${path_var}" ABSOLUTE
+                           BASE_DIR ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
+
+    if (DEFINED path_var)
+        if (IS_DIRECTORY ${ABSPATH})
+            set(${cmake_path_type} PATH PARENT_SCOPE)
+            message(STATUS "Variable of PATH type")
+        elseif(EXISTS ${ABSPATH})
+            set(${cmake_path_type} FILEPATH PARENT_SCOPE)
+        else()
+            set(${cmake_path_type} "" PARENT_SCOPE)
+        endif()
+    else()
+        set(${cmake_path_type} UNINITIALIZED PARENT_SCOPE)
+    endif()
+
+endfunction()
+
+# Function to print all the user options added using the function `USER_OPTION`
+function(print_useroptions)
+    message(STATUS "--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------")
+    message(STATUS "Defined build user options:")
+    message(STATUS "")
+    foreach(opt ${USER_OPTIONS})
+        message(STATUS "    ${opt}=${${opt}}")
+    endforeach()
+    message(STATUS "--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------")
+endfunction()
+
+function (SUBDIRLIST result curdir)
+    file(GLOB children RELATIVE ${curdir} ${curdir}/*)
+    set(dirlist "")
+    foreach(child ${children})
+        if(IS_DIRECTORY ${curdir}/${child})
+            LIST(APPEND dirlist ${child})
+        endif()
+    endforeach()
+    set(${result} ${dirlist} PARENT_SCOPE)
+endfunction()
+
+function(to_py_bool cmake_bool py_bool)
+    if(${${cmake_bool}})
+        set(${py_bool} True PARENT_SCOPE)
+    else()
+        set(${py_bool} False PARENT_SCOPE)
+    endif()
+endfunction()
+
+# Function to download a files from the Arm Model Zoo
+# Arguments:
+#   file_sub_path: subpath within the model zoo respository
+#   download_path: location where this file is to be downloaded (path including filename)
+function(download_file_from_modelzoo file_sub_path download_path)
+
+    set(MODEL_ZOO_REPO      "https://github.com/ARM-software/ML-zoo/raw")
+    set(MODEL_ZOO_VERSION   "68b5fbc77ed28e67b2efc915997ea4477c1d9d5b")
+
+    string(JOIN "/" FILE_URL
+        ${MODEL_ZOO_REPO} ${MODEL_ZOO_VERSION} ${file_sub_path})
+
+    message(STATUS "Downloading ${FILE_URL} to ${download_path}...")
+
+    file(DOWNLOAD ${FILE_URL} ${download_path}
+        STATUS DOWNLOAD_STATE)
+    list(GET DOWNLOAD_STATE 0 RET_VAL)
+
+    if(${RET_VAL})
+        list(GET DOWNLOAD_STATE 1 RET_MSG)
+        message(FATAL_ERROR "Download failed with error code: ${RET_VAL}; "
+                            "Error message: ${RET_MSG}")
+    endif()
+
+endfunction()