TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Bureau of Investigation will hold a groundbreaking ceremony next week for a new crime lab on the campus of Topeka’s Washburn University.

The $55 million facility will replace an existing lab in the basement of the agency’s headquarters, a former Topeka school built in 1928.

Officials expect the new, 100,000-square-foot lab to be completed by October 2015. Washburn leaders will join KBI officials at the ceremony Wednesday.

The lab will increase the KBI’s capacity for processing crime evidence and allow Washburn faculty and students to train. About 70 scientists and technicians will work at the lab, which officials expect will enhance the agency’s ability to recruit and retain forensic staff.