The firm said it was rolling out new Ortus Homes branded developments next year for the well-heeled new downsizing 55-year-old market.

Building work is underway at Ortus schemes in Solihull and Swanage, with a further 20 sites in the pipeline.

Clive Fenton, Chief Executive Officer, said: “We expect Ortus Homes will help us to capture a wider share of the active retiree market for whom the traditional concept of retirement housing has not been appropriate.”

He set out the targets ahead as McCarthy & Stone announced pre-tax profits had soared to £63m from £12m in 2013.

This was driven by a 10% rise in legal completions to 1,677 at net average selling price up 16% to £214k, raising revenue by a quarter to £388m.

In the year to 31 August 2014, the combination of top-line growth and cost discipline enabled the group to deliver an improvement in operating margin from 15% to 19%.

Fenton said the outlook for the retirement homes specialist was looking very bright and McCarthy & Stone aimed to double the size of the business to 3,000 homes a year.

He said that one in four over 60s were interested in retirement living, yet only 1% of older owner-occupiers currently lived in specialist retirement housing.

“This gives the group confidence that there is a very large addressable market for its products and the group continues to innovate to sustain its appeal to the broad retirement age group.”