The post-pandemic belief that London would be burdened with millions of square metres of vacant office space in the era of home working now appears to be completely wrong.

As a new report today shows, the opposite is the case.

In fact, the stock of new office projects is far from sufficient to meet the demand for additional space from companies bringing their employees back to central London.

No wonder Stanhope is pushing ahead with his 1 Undershaft skyscraper project, which will create around 120,000 square metres of new workspace when it’s completed around 2030. The city’s tallest building will almost certainly get the green light from city planners, as will up to 11 other towers currently working their way through the planning system.

Developers will have noticed the success of the Bishopsgate twins 22 and 8, which, far from ending up as useless rental properties post-Covid, have quickly filled up with tenants craving the modern, employee-friendly spaces they offer. Excess demand will inevitably put downward pressure on rents, which in turn will prompt further development proposals in the City, Docklands and elsewhere.

But where to put them? The so-called eastern skyscraper complex is quite full when you include the buildings likely to be built in the next decade. Protected sightlines from St Paul’s and other historic buildings make it difficult to put tall buildings elsewhere in the city.

But one of London’s great strengths – unlike some of its more museum-like European rivals such as Paris and Rome – is that it has plenty of ugly bits that can be demolished or revamped to make way for new things, so expect to see more cranes as the depleted office stock is replenished to meet demand.

London’s skyline is being transformed again by a new generation of skyscrapers. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but constant reinvention is an essential part of what makes London such a fascinating global city.