A BOLTON firm is soaring to new heights— thanks to a flying drone camera.

Creative design firm Portfolio Design, based in St George’s Square, uses the flying drone to produce “game changing” work for different clients.

The Inspire 1 device, complete with high definition camera, can legally reach heights up to 400 metres and can capture stunning overhead footage and photographs.

It has been used on various sites including the Smithills Coaching House development - as seen in these amazing pictures.

The drone belongs to one of Portfolio’s senior creative designers, James Boyers, who has been personally interested in the devices for the past five years but always dreamt of combining the technology with his design career.

James, aged 37, said: “The technology has evolved a lot in the past few years — it started as a hobby for me but I’ve always been fascinated in the different perspectives the footage can add to any filming I do.

"It is a two man job to operate it with one pilot and one camera operator — there is an app you download that controls everything and means the drone can fly to places with GPS precision.

“When I told the bosses at Portfolio about my drone they were really excited — while there are quite a growing number of hobbyists out there, there aren’t too many people using them for commercial uses.”

The firm has recently finished work for Wigan Council — using overhead footage to film and capture areas where the authority plans to install link roads.

James said: “On that project we were able to map 3D images of what the roads might look like into the aerial footage we had taken and that was used at a public consultation.”

The drone has also been used to photograph large properties for estate agents, take footage of landmarks for tourism purposes and video public events.

James, from Warrington, said: “It is definitely a game-changer in the industry — it opens doors to something that was previously out of reach.”