Simon Poulter has been in residence with Metal for two years (2007 – 2009) working on a research-based project looking at cultural regeneration in the Thames Gateway and beyond.  
His interest has been in understanding, and challenging, government methodologies of measurement, and the production of data relating to towns, cities and neighbourhoods and how this sits with the culture of a place on the ground.

The residency has gone through several stages. Initially, he was concerned with devising a simple cultural metric questionnaire for people to fill out and respond to. This deliberately takes on the language of government agencies and attempts to find a solution to measuring the unmeasurable – i.e. culture, and in particularly the ingredients necessary for successful culture-led regeneration.

Secondly, he visited lots of different places along the Thames Estuary. Following this he devised an online narrative called 'TG' - a story partly based on real events during the outset of the credit crunch in 2008.

Towards the end of the residency he produced a large scale, light work for Chalkwell Hall in Southend, and is currently completing a board game entitled 'Kluj'. Both these objects take their iconography and content from the previous research collated from the questionnaires and conversations with people living and working along the Thames Gateway from Southend on Sea to London.