The Kansas Bureau of Investigation’s new forensic center is taking shape on the Washburn University campus in Topeka.

A “topping out” ceremony to place the final steel beam required for construction on part of the Forensic Science Center was held Wednesday. Exterior construction on the $55 million project is expected to be completed by December.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the science center is expected to open in October 2015.

The KBI currently uses a lab in the basement of an 86-year-old former junior high school, which has insufficient heating and air conditioning and doesn’t meet standards for a modern forensic laboratory.

Washburn will lease the land and finance the construction with bonds, and then allow the KBI to repay the bonds through rent payments over 20 or 30 years.