JAMES Bond’s gadget man celebrated his latest state-of-the-art creation last week at the studios used to film the 007 franchise.

But there were no exploding pens in sight as Ben Whishaw, who plays technical wizard Q in the Bond movies, arrived to open the new ‘Q stage’ at Pinewood Studios.

The huge building contains a 30,000 sq ft filming stage and 15,000 sq ft of production accommodation and workshops.

Bond royalty was in attendance, with the series’ producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson attending the event.

The MI6 spy's quartmaster was famously portrayed by Desmond Llewelyn for 36 years before his death in 1999.

The stage follows Pinewood’s Richard Attenborough Stage, which opened in 2011 and has already hosted films including Les Miserables and Exodus, Jack Ryan and Ridley Scotts new epic.

Ben officially declared the new stage open and unveiled the new Q Stage sign with a specially designed gadget made by Pinewood based prop specialists, PropShop.

Director of strategy and communications Andrew Smith said: “We are thrilled that Ben took time out of his busy schedule to formally open ‘Q’ Stage.

“Pinewood continues to invest in its infrastructure to ensure it offers all types of production the most state of the art, secure and flexible stages possible.

"It is even more special to have Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson here to help celebrate and it underlines the very special relationship Pinewood and Eon Productions enjoy.”

Last week also saw the end of a two-week appeal hearing at the Iver Heath site over the studios’ plans to more than double its capacity.

The controversial £200m plans were turned down by South Bucks District Council in May over Green Belt development fears.

Residents are uniformly opposed, but studio bosses insist the expansion will generate 3000 jobs and ensure Pinewood remains competitive in the global film industry.

The decision will now be taken by Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.