wordpress web site - (** UK developers only)

New site design and (maybe) custom templates, but based on content of long existing static site. Do NOT want one of these cookier-cutter wordpress jobs with big photos stretching wall to wall and boring icon-based layouts. NO NO NO. Site needs to be smart and modern, but utilitarian, large text based, and fast loading - page loading speed of the essence. Site must be able to incorporate several separate MySQL/PHP scripts which run a knowledgebase and wiki. These will NOT be changed or brought into a wordpress plugins - they are standalone but require integrating into the site, mainly to provide consistent header/navigation.