Tom Heneghan was born in London, England, and studied at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, graduating in 1975. In 1976 he became a tutor at the Architectural Association, and was appointed Unit Master (Senior Lecturer) in 1979. He continued to teach at the AA for fourteen years until 1990, when he was invited by Arata Isozaki and Kumamoto Prefecture, in Japan, to be one of only five foreign architects commisioned to design buildings as part of the 'Kumamoto Art Polis' programme - a programme modelled on Berlin's IBA - and he established his Tokyo office 'The Architecture Factory'. As a result of his Kumamoto buildings (the Grasslands Agricultural Institute), he received the 1994 Award of the Academy of The Architectural Institute of Japan - the most presitgious award in Japanese architecture. All of his subsequent principal projects in Japan have received major architectural awards.

Heneghan has lectured, published and exhibited internationally, with his works included in the Japanese pavilion at the 1996 Milan Triennale, and in the 'Totalscape' exhibition of Japanese architecture at the Netherlands Architecture Institute, Rotterdam, in 2000.

He used to teach at Kogakuin University in Japan. He is Chair Professor of Architecture at the University of Sydney, Australia.