We're in the market for a front door that is, ideally, slightly more secure and resistant than the typical British wooden door you can smash open with a kick. It's for a house, so it doesn't need the fire certification that doors to flats probably need.
Steel doors are common in many European countries; there is, in fact, a European homologation system, with doors certified level 3 resisting 20 minutes to certain attacks (hammer, drill, etc), level 4 ca 40 minutes, etc. It's impressive stuff compared to 99% of British doors.
We have found a distributor of Italian doors in Imperial Wharf:
http://www.kensingtonsecuritydoorsandwindows.co.uk/
They quoted ca. £5k for a level 3 door that would look like a typical British wooden door from the outside.
That's a lot, but then Banham quoted £7k for a security door which seems similar but has no European certification, and £3k for a wooden door with a thin metal sheet which the lady said covered only part of the panels.
So Banham seems incredibly overpriced for what it is; ideally we'd want some kind of compromise between the Italian security door and the typical British door, something like a steel door without certification, but which looks like a wooden door and maybe costs in the £2- £3k range. There wouldn't be much point in spending too much for a bulletproof door, when a burglar could still enter from the windows or the door to the back garden (we have an alarm with a very visible shield as deterrent).
Any suggestions?
I have heard very contradicting feedback about rockdoors.
Solidor's range doesn't seem bad but that's only wood, no reinforcements.
I have found a few other steel door resellers, but they only seem to do ugly doors that wouldn't fit in a Victorian house.