Front Doors
Handcrafted in Britain since 2012
Bespoke Timber Front Doors for London Homes
Your front door is the most visible element of your property’s street-facing elevation. In a London period property, it sets the tone for the entire building — and a door that is out of character, poorly fitted, or showing its age detracts from the appearance of the property as much as any other single element.
Many original front doors in London properties are more than 100 years old. Over that time, frames move, timber deteriorates, and locking mechanisms become outdated. A draughty, stiff, or insecure front door is both a security risk and a source of significant heat loss — a poorly sealed door frame can account for a disproportionate amount of a property’s total heat loss in winter.
At WSW, we design, manufacture and install bespoke timber front doors entirely in-house at our UK workshops, handmade and hand painted to your exact specification.
Designed for the Period and Character of Your Property
London’s Victorian and Georgian terraced properties each have their own distinct door traditions. The four-panelled doors of a Clapham Victorian terrace are different in proportion and detail to the six-panelled doors of a Georgian townhouse in Islington, or the two-over-two glazed doors common in Edwardian properties in Bromley and Lewisham. Getting this right matters — both for the appearance of your property and, in conservation areas, for planning compliance.
We can replicate your existing door design exactly, or work with you to develop a new design that is sympathetic to the period and character of your property. Options include:
- Raised and fielded panels in any configuration
- Glazed upper panels with ovolo or lamb’s tongue mouldings
- Fanlights — fixed or opening — above the door, including numbered fanlights
- Side lights with matching glazing and moulding detail
- Stained, leaded or textured glass panels, including encapsulated existing glass
- Bespoke ironmongery in more than 10 finishes
We do not carry out works in listed buildings, but for properties in conservation areas we have extensive experience preparing and submitting planning applications and can manage the entire process on your behalf.
Security Built in as Standard
Original front doors were typically fitted with a single mortice deadbolt or rim lock — mechanisms that fall well short of modern security standards and offer little resistance to forced entry.
Every front door we manufacture is fitted as standard with a Winkhaus AV4 multipoint locking system, which engages the door into the frame simultaneously in a minimum of three locations. This provides a significantly higher level of security than a single-point lock, and the multiple locking points reduce the tendency of the frame to twist and warp over time — keeping the door fitting correctly for longer.
All cylinders are Hardwick euro cylinders, tested to the highest British Standards. Where customers require additional security measures — such as door chains, security bolts, or specific cylinder ratings — we are happy to advise and accommodate.
Handmade and Hand Painted in Our UK Workshops
Every front door we manufacture is made from hardwood at one of our three UK workshops, by bench joiners and machinists who have spent decades making doors and windows for London period properties. Each door is made to the exact dimensions of your opening — we do not use standard off-the-shelf sizes — and is fully painted to top coat in our workshops before delivery and installation.
We can paint your door in any colour from the Farrow & Ball, Little Greene or RAL ranges, or match an existing colour, by colour matching in Teknos paint, if you are replacing a door where adjoining woodwork is already painted. If you are undecided on colour, our surveyor can advise based on the character of the property and the requirements of your local conservation area if applicable.
What Does a New Front Door Cost?
The cost of a new front door depends on the size of the opening, the complexity of the panel and glazing design, the ironmongery specification, and whether a fanlight or side lights are included. As a rough guide, front door installations typically start from around £3,500, including survey, manufacture, painting, and installation.
Design complexity is the biggest driver of cost. A door with a straightforward four-panel design and plain glazing will cost considerably less than one with stained glass panels, a bespoke fanlight, and a full ironmongery specification — even if the two doors are a similar size.
For a precise quotation, we carry out a free survey at your property, during which our surveyor will measure the opening, discuss your design preferences, and advise on the most appropriate specification.
One of the most important considerations in these designs is the longevity of the products. We understand that replacing your windows is a costly endeavour and our customers would not want to be replacing the same window every 10 years. We also take traditional designs & styles into account when manufacturing windows & doors, trying
to ensure replacement windows are as sympathetic to traditional styles as possible. Some parts of your new windows may not be the same as your original. This is because we need to combine all of these considerations to ensure we provide the highest quality window, which is exactly what we do.
Yes. All of our door installations carry a 10-year insurance-backed guarantee.
Yes. We work closely with stained glass specialists who can deglaze, repair, and encapsulate existing stained or leaded glass panels into the centre of a new toughened double glazed unit. This means you retain the original glass whilst gaining the thermal and acoustic benefits of double glazing.
Yes. We regularly replicate existing door designs where a homeowner wants to replace a deteriorated door whilst retaining the original appearance. We can work from photographs and measurements to produce an accurate match, including replicating existing moulding profiles, glazing bar patterns, and panel arrangements.
If your property is in a conservation area, or if you own a flat rather than a freehold house, you will likely need planning permission before replacing your front door. For freehold houses outside conservation areas, replacement doors generally fall within permitted development rights, provided the replacement is of a similar appearance to the original. We can advise on your specific situation and prepare and submit a planning application on your behalf where required.
All the sash windows and other windows and doors that we supply are fully compliant with Document L Building Regulations. New sash windows, casement windows or doors that fit into existing frames are not required to comply with regulations as such work does not affect the structure of a building. Listed buildings and conservation area properties may be exempt from regulations – your local planning authority will be able to advise you if you are unsure.
From survey to installation, most front doors are manufactured in ten to twelve weeks. Projects requiring planning permission will take longer, as the statutory decision period is eight weeks from validation — and in practice, as we set out on our planning page, decisions often take considerably longer than this.
We are members of and certified by FENSA, which allows us to self-certify our installations as compliant with building regulations.
As standard, our doors are fitted with Winkhaus AV4 multipoint locking mechanisms.