Geotechnical structures can be employed to provide renewable and cost-effective thermal energy to buildings. To date, limited field studies regarding thermo-active retaining walls exist and therefore their mechanical response under non-isothermal conditions requires further research to comprehend their behaviour. This paper investigates the response of a hypothetical thermo-active diaphragm wall by performing finite element analysis to characterise in detail its short and long term response. The soil-structure interaction mechanisms arising from the coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical nature of soil behaviour are for the first time identified and shown to be complex and highly non-linear. Subsequently, simpler modelling approaches are used to isolate and quantify the impact of the various identified mechanisms on the design of thermo-active retaining walls. It is concluded that simpler approaches tend to overestimate structural forces developing due to temperature changes in the retaining wall, while severely underestimating the associated ground movements, which are highly influenced by the development of thermally-induced excess pore water pressures. Furthermore, the results suggest that the behaviour of thermo-active retaining walls is highly transient in nature, as a result of the high rates of heat transfer and pore water pressure dissipation under plane strain assumptions.