As an update:

We jacked up the car and even wheels free the steering is sticky and stiff, with or without the ignition on, and the same wherever the adjustment knob is positioned. If you grab the road wheel ts impossible to move it. Without the mods if the car was jacked up it was possible to spin the steering wheel by grabbing the tyre and pulling/pushing,

To isolate the location of the stiffness we disconnected the steering column near the rack, I now know that the front suspension is as expected, no stiffness or friction at all. With the car jacked up the wheels can be moved from lock to lock easily by pulling on the tyre.

So it's the column.

We have noted that the steering column is far from straight, there are considerable corners at each Universal Joint. We all think that looks wrong.

The garage investigating for me have spoken to EZ who confirm its not as expected and they're being very helpful. The investigations continue!