By Dan Hounsell

The resurgence of construction projects — many of which had been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic — continues as healthcare systems seek to navigate the post-pandemic business environment.

In Pennsylvania, UPMC is moving ahead with its plans for two big specialty hospitals, a heart and transplant hospital in Oakland and a cancer hospital in Shadyside, according to the Pittsburgh Business Times. It expects to break ground on the heart and transplant hospital in the second half of 2022.

Both hospitals were part of a $2 billion commitment made by the Pittsburgh-based health system in late 2018, when it announced three specialty hospitals. Progress on the 900,000-square-foot heart and transplant hospital and the UPMC Hillman Cancer Hospital had been delayed even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The third, the UPMC Vision and Rehabilitation Tower in Uptown at UPMC Mercy, has been under construction. The $510 million UPMC Vision and Rehabilitation Tower will open in 2023.