Viadux was built above Victorian railway arches that once formed part of Manchester Central railway station, which closed in 1969.
Beneath the skyscraper, built by the construction firm Domis, is a swimming pool, a gym and a cinema room.
Lee McCarren, the firm’s managing director, said: “Punching through the listed brick railway arches was the biggest challenge.”
The building’s concrete columns are anchored on a 3m (10 ft) slab, with a platform above taking the load of the building.
“It’s really tricky but it needed doing,” Mr McCarren said, adding his firm “loves doing complicated buildings and we love British engineering”.
SimpsonHaugh have also designed Viadux 2, which will have up to 800 apartments, according to plans submitted to Manchester City Council, and could be the tallest skyscraper in Western Europe.
It would be 241m (790ft) high and would surpass the Peninsula building in London’s Canary Wharf by eight meters.
It would also dwarf its closest Manchester rival, the south tower at Deansgate Square, which is 201m (659ft) high.
