A company formed in Stroud has been identified as the fastest growing housebuilder in Europe by the Financial Times.

Lioncourt Homes, founded by entrepreneur Colin Cole, features in the newspaper’s FT 1000 - a list of the 1,000 companies in Europe that have achieved the highest compound annual growth rate in turnover.

Established in 2006 by executive directors Colin Cole and Neil Chandler, the Lioncourt Group has grown from a small regional developer to one of the largest home builders and landowners in Central England.

Lioncourt Homes is currently finishing off 49 new homes at Cotswold View in Kings Stanley and also has developments at Regency View in Tetbury and Bentham Green in Bentham.

Work is also set to begin on new developments in Cheltenham and Stroud.

Colin Cole, chief executive of the Lioncourt Group, commented: “We are delighted to feature in the FT 1000 for the second successive year - this is an outstanding achievement which reflects the strength and commitment of everyone in the Lioncourt team.

“It has been an outstanding year for The Lioncourt Group. We are currently expanding into the East Midlands and Oxfordshire with plans to open new offices in these new geographical areas at the appropriate time.”

The company was also ranked 413th in the FT’s list of fastest growing businesses in Europe across all sectors.