Isothermal Community College celebrated the opening of the Dr. Bobby F. England Health and Sciences Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 12, 2026. Designed by Moseley in partnership with Whiting-Turner, the 55,000-square-foot center in Spindale, N.C., is the largest design-build project in North Carolina Community College System history.
The event drew more than 100 guests and included an open house and the unveiling of a plaque honoring England. The three-story building gives the college's nursing, allied health and science programs a shared home. The nursing program previously operated in the Rutherford Learning Center, an older building without the space the program needed. The new center more than doubles the program’s space, with room for up to 125 students. Classes in the building were set to begin the week after the ceremony, when students returned from fall break.
Spaces for Hands-On Training
Simulation labs replicate hospital environments for medical surgery, pediatric care and intensive care training. An intensive care simulation suite prepares nursing students for the conditions they will face in local hospitals. Emergency medical students practice patient care in an ambulance simulator module, while a walk-in clinic with two examination rooms serves students and community members. Chemistry, biology and microbiology labs support coursework across health science disciplines.
A New Presence on Campus
The design introduces a new architectural style to campus. Dark metal panels clad the exterior, and wood-toned soffits and a prominent balcony frame views of the adjacent lake. Windows of varying sizes punctuate the facade and reveal activity within. The building's two wings face north and south, connecting previously disparate areas of campus and opening classrooms and common areas to the lake.
"When you see what Moseley and Whiting-Turner did together, when you go inside, you will know with certainty that they saw the vision clearly and they executed it to perfection," said Isothermal Community College President Margaret Annunziata.
The hillside site slopes in two directions, which required separate access routes for students, clinic patients and service vehicles.
"The window pattern puts the labs and simulation suites on view, so a prospective student walking across campus can watch nursing and EMS students at work and picture themselves inside. Once they enroll, they train in spaces that replicate the hospitals they will work in after graduation. Their first shift at a hospital like Rutherford Regional will not be their first time in that environment," said Daniel Whitmire, design principal at Moseley.
A Design-Build Partnership Ahead of Schedule
The college's board of trustees chose design-build delivery, an approach no North Carolina community college had used on a project of this size. Margaret said the board made the decision for two reasons.
"It would allow us to work in tandem with the design and construction team from the very beginning so that we could deliver the very best experience for our community, for the people who will be prepared for the workforce in this space. And they also chose that because it would allow us to move with urgency," she said.
Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. joined the design process during the advanced planning phase. The full project team met three times weekly, and Moseley held additional weekly design meetings with the college. In-person workshops gave college leaders a direct way to react to design options and provide feedback, which allowed the team to make decisions quickly. Moseley provided architecture and structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering for the building, and Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. provided civil engineering.
Design took nine months, from the start of schematic design in October 2024 to the groundbreaking in July 2025. Whiting-Turner project manager Jared Puketza credited the design team with meeting an aggressive timeline for the building's structure.
"They were tasked with a very tall order, to basically design the building in five months. The detailing took a little longer, but the actual structure that you see behind us was designed in five months," Jared said.
Construction lasted less than 15 months. Despite disruptions from Hurricane Helene, the building opened on budget and more than a month ahead of the state's completion date. Margaret credited Madeline Smith, the college's vice president of strategy and operations, with keeping the project on that pace.
Honoring Dr. Bobby F. England
England practiced medicine in Rutherford County, including sports medicine, for 54 years beginning in 1964. His public service includes terms on the Rutherford County Board of Education from 1975 to 1994 and in the N.C. House of Representatives from 2003 to 2011. He was also an Isothermal Community College trustee from 1995 to 2015. During the ceremony, U.S. Rep. Tim Moore, who led the project's state appropriation as speaker of the N.C. House, helped unveil the plaque and spoke about England's record of public service.
Most of the project's funding came from the North Carolina General Assembly. A Golden LEAF Foundation grant paid for health care simulation equipment and related technology in the new building, and the RHI Legacy Foundation, other foundations and private donors provided additional support.
Meeting Regional Workforce Needs
"This is an opportunity for folks who live here in our community to be able to come here and get a top-quality education, and then, what's really important, to be able to stay in this community and provide health care," Tim said. "We know that rural areas are the areas that are the most underserved when it comes to health care."
The larger nursing program will increase the number of nurses available to Rutherford Regional Health System, AdventHealth Polk and other medical facilities in the region.
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